RWBY: CDAR's Tale
by danashpark
Summary: Slight Variation on the events of RWBY, mostly told from the POV of Team CDAR (Cedar), another team starting at Beacon Academy alongside RWBY and JNPR. Disclaimer: The only thing I own in this Story is Team CDAR, everything else belongs to the fine folk at Rooster Teeth. [DISCONTINUED]
1. Twin Betrayals ('Black' Trailer Rewrite)

**_A/N: Hi guys, Welcome to my very first attempt at a RWBY Fanfic - RWBY: the Tale of Team CDAR. It may be a bit rough around the edges, but as I said, it is only my first attempt._**

* * *

 ** _Somewhere in the Forever Fall Forest, Vale_**

The leaves drifted in the wind, slowly making their descent to the forest floor. They twirled around her, the girl sitting on the rock, before slowly touching down on the ground, gazing back up at the trees from which they came. She paid them no mind. Her mind was elsewhere, preparing herself for what was about to happen. Her partner noticed this, and spoke up.

"Don't worry," he said to her. "We've run through the plan a thousand times. Nothing is gonna happen that we didn't plan for." The Wolf Faunus looked at her with a reassuring grin on his face.

She ignored him, as she always did. She was about to speak up, but before she could, a new voice rang out across the clearing.

"Blake… Remus," the newcomer said. "It's time." He spoke without letting his emotions show, making it sound all the more sinister.

There was a time, back when Remus Viridian had first met the Bull-Horned Faunus, that the emotionless voice had scared him. Now, he knew that it just meant that Adam Taurus was ready to do his job. Grabbing his weapon, Remus fell in behind Adam and Blake as they ran through the forest towards their goal.

The Faunus trio slowed to a halt as they reached the cliff overlooking their objective: The rail lines that enabled the Schnee Dust Company to transport their product to all corners of Remnant. A solitary crow cawed as it flew past the cliff, seemingly oblivious to what was about to happen. As the Dust train announced its approach, Adam gripped his weapons, Wilt and Blush, in his left hand, and with his right, motioned for Blake and Remus to begin their descent.

As he slid down the slope, Remus unfolded his weapon, Romulus, into its sickle form, and, with a leap that would be impossible to perform if he was anything other than a Faunus, landed on the roof of the train, burying Romulus into the metal to steady himself. Hearing the screeching of metal on metal, he glanced over to his right, and saw that both Adam and Blake had easily boarded the train as well. Moving along the train towards a nearby hatch, he used Romulus to bypass the lock, and stood back to let Adam and Blake drop down into the car below.

As he entered the car, Remus was grateful for the enhanced vision that nearly all Faunus possessed, as the interior of the car was pitch black. Unfortunately, he saw that instead of dropping into the car that contained their objective, he had accidentally accessed the car that was carrying the train's security detail. Even worse, landing on the floor had triggered the motion sensors, activating the AK-130s guarding the train.

 _Crap,_ Remus thought to himself. _Adam is not going to be happy about that._ Standing up, he watched as the Atlesian Knights began to glow red whilst they came out of standby mode. Turning to Adam and Blake, he spoke.

"Looks like we're gonna be doing this the hard way." Blake looked at him with a smirk on her face.

"I thought you said that there was no situation we weren't ready for?" Blake said sarcastically.

Remus turned towards her, ready to reply with a retort of his own when Adam interrupted.

"Focus, you two. You know what to do."

With that, Adam drew Wilt, and prepared to fight his way out. Blake drew Gambol Shroud, keeping the sheath on, while Remus converted Romulus to its gun form, and loaded some of his Dust rounds. Turning to face the nearest Knight, he raised Romulus to his shoulder, and prepared to fight his way to their objective.

One of the Knights began to question the intruders. One shot from Remus' shotgun ended his line of enquiry prematurely. Adam swiped Wilt at the Knight nearest him, bisecting it with ease. Blake leaped back from her position, and cleanly took the heads of the two knights beside her, fully removing Gambol Shroud from its sheath. The remaining Knights converged on the trio, but were either forced back or destroyed as the Faunus group went to work. The whole fight lasted less than 60 seconds.

Kicking open the door to the next car, Remus groaned as he saw more Knights had been deployed on the next car. Blake ran past him, collapsing Gambol Shroud into its kusarigama form and hurling it at the nearest opponent. Adam was close behind, but took the time to have a dig at Remus on his way past.

"Well, what are you waiting for?" he asked sarcastically. "You got us into this mess, the least you can do is pull your weight and clean it up."

Hearing this, Remus took a deep breath, and yelled at Adam and Blake, telling them to cover their ears. After confirming that they had done so, Remus unleashed his secret weapon. Using his Semblance, he literally howled at the Knights, letting the ultrasonic vibrations play havoc with their command frequencies. After making sure that the knights had deactivated, Remus turned to Adam, with a smirk on his face.

"Happy now?" he asked the Bull Faunus. Adam just looked at Remus blankly, before turning away. Remus scowled in response, and followed.

Reaching the car that actually held the objective, Adam turned and opened one of the multitude of crates lining the walls of the car. "Perfect," he said aloud. Turning to the other two, Adam directed them to head to the next car, claiming that he would set the charges. Blake looked shocked at this.

"What about the crew members?" she exclaimed, worried for their safety. Adam turned and looked her dead in the eye. What Blake saw scared her worse than anything she had ever seen.

"What about them?" Adam replied, his voice somehow colder than Remus ever thought possible.

Before Remus could do anything, the trio heard, and _felt_ a loud thud. Turning towards the source of the disturbance, the three Faunus found a gargantuan robot which could only be described as some form of Spider-Droid moving towards them. Reaching for their weapons, the trio were too slow, as the mech fired all four of its cannons at them, forcing them to dive for whatever cover they could find.

Blake ran towards the droid, Gambol Shroud raised, and slashed downwards, only to be knocked to the ground by one of the robot's arm-cannons. Blake attempted to crawl backwards, as the giant mech raced towards her, seemingly eager to crush the girl where she lay. Adam leapt in front of her, and, Wilt in hand, delivered five strikes with enough power to force the Spider-Droid back away from Blake. Remus followed suit, converting Romulus into what amounted to an exo-skeleton for his hand, designed to increase the force of his punches. Drawing his arm back, Remus laid into the mech with three immensely powerful right hooks, slightly denting its armour, and forcing it back even more.

"We need to get out of here!" yelled a slightly bruised Blake.

Having gotten back to her feet, the Cat Faunus ran towards the door, gesturing for her companions to follow suit. As they made it to the door, the Droid began to combine its four cannons into a massive beam cannon, and immediately began to charge it. The trio jumped through the door, and ducked the moment that the robot fired its new weapon. The massive beam tore a hole through the end of the car that the three Faunus had just vacated, and through this hole emerged the Spider Droid.

Adam turned to his companions, and, gesturing towards the giant mech, shouted at them to buy him some time. Remus converted Romulus back into its shotgun form, and loaded it with more Dust rounds. Blake, however, looked back at Adam.

"Are you sure?" she asked, fear creeping into her voice.

Adam looked at her, and yelled out "JUST DO IT!"

Blake turned towards the Spider-Droid, and, quashing the fear that was rising within her mind, ran towards it, intent on keeping it occupied long enough for Adam to do whatever he was going to do, with Remus following suit. Drawing Gambol Shroud, Blake dodged the Droids shots, and, leaping up behind the mech, threw her weapon at its faceplate, using the recoil from the built-in pistol to return it to her hand, repeating the action three times.

Remus had rolled behind a crate, and was using it to brace himself as he let loose with Romulus. He pulled the trigger again and again, each time letting the Ice Dust contained within his 12-gauge shells build up around the Spider-Droid's legs, in an attempt to immobilise it. So far, it was working, but who knows how long it would hold. Glancing back at Adam, he saw that the Bull Faunus was ready to unleash his Semblance. Getting Blake's attention, he motioned for her to get out of the way, just as Adam leapt towards the Mech, faster than anything Remus had ever seen.

The Spider-Droid momentarily forgot about Blake as Adam appeared in front of it. Charging its beam gun, the mech fired on Adam, who somehow managed to catch the blast on Wilt, storing the energy away for his counterattack. As the Spider-Droid managed to break free of Remus' Ice prison, Adam focused the energy he had absorbed into Wilt, and with one strike, annihilated the droid, leaving nothing but ashes in its place.

Sheathing Wilt, Adam turned towards the next car, but stopped in his tracks. Blake was standing there, slowly drifting away. Adam realised that she had severed the couplings. He looked at her, one word forming on his lips.

"Why?" he asked.

Blake simply looked at him, sadness in her golden eyes.

"Goodbye," she replied. Adam blinked once, and she was gone.

* * *

 **Two Days Later**

 ** _White Fang Outpost, Forever Fall, Vale_**

Adam was sitting in his tent, sharpening Wilt. He had already finished giving Blush a thorough cleaning, completely stripping it down and polishing every inch. Anything to take his mind off of Blake's betrayal. He stopped to inspect Wilt's edge, ensuring that the nicks she suffered from slicing through the AK-130s on the train had been rectified. Satisfied, he placed Wilt down, and stood up. As he turned around, he saw that Remus was standing there, arms crossed.

"What do you want?" he barked at Remus. Remus just looked at him, not moving an inch.

Several seconds passed, before Remus finally spoke up. "Were you really going to do it?" he asked Adam. "Were you really going to kill those civilians on the train?" Adam narrowed his eyes at that.

"Of course," he replied. "They made the decision to work for Schnee, they can suffer the consequences." Remus' expression hardened at that.

"If the White Fang is willing to murder innocent civilians just because they were there," he was saying, "then I think it's time that the White Fang and I part ways." Even though Adam's face was mostly hidden behind the mask he was always wearing, Remus could tell that he was becoming enraged.

"If you think that you can just walk away from the White Fang, from me," Adam hissed, "well then, Remus, you have another thing coming!" With that, Adam grabbed Wilt from its resting place, and swung upwards at Remus.

Remus barely managed to get Romulus up in time to deflect Adam's strike. He braced himself for Adam's next attack. Adam took the opportunity to continue his barrage of slashes, swings and furious swipes, not noticing through his fury that Remus was breathing in far deeper than normal. By the time Adam had noticed, Remus' ultrasonic howl had knocked him flat on his ass, and his head was ringing with pain. Blindly he groped around, trying to find Wilt. Remus, seeing that Adam was on the ground stopped using his Semblance, and was walking towards the Bull Faunus, tearing off the White Fang patch on his shoulder as he did so.

Dropping the torn piece of cloth on Adam's head, Remus failed to notice that Adam had managed to wrap one hand around the hilt of his sword. Sensing that Remus was distracted, Adam pressed his advantage, and wildly slashed upwards, smirking as he felt Wilt's blade bite into the flesh of Remus' face.

Screaming in pain, and clutching the eye that Adam had mutilated, Remus let loose with his Semblance once more, forcing Adam into the ground. Turning away, Remus began to run as fast as he could, desperate to put as much distance between him and the White Fang as possible. He knew that there was only one person he could turn to now. The only other person who he knew had escaped the White Fang and lived.

 _Blake Belladonna,_ Remus thought to himself, as he watched the red leaves tumble gracefully towards the ground. _Where are you?_

* * *

 ** _A/N: So, the reason that I wrote this Chapter was mainly to introduce one of the four members of Team CDAR. I am not going to rewrite all four trailers, as I plan to introduce the other three OCs in a different way. I just had to do this one as I wanted Remus and Blake to share a past when they left the White Fang._**

 ** _Another thing: It may be a little bit unorthodox, but I won't provide much in the way of character descriptions in this story. Two reasons why: 1 - If you are reading this, then I can assume that you know what the RWBY Cast actually looks like. Secondly, aside from basic descriptions, such as Faunus Traits, I want to Leave how My OC's look up to you, the Reader. This way, you can come to your own conclusions about how they look. I do have my own Ideas, but I feel as though if I describe them, you guys will be locked into viewing them as I do. That is the last thing I want. I want you guys to interpret the story in your own way, so that you can immerse yourselves into the world. Do let me know if this idea works out._**

 ** _So, if you enjoyed this, do feel free to leave a review, Follow and, if you feel it's worthy, a Favourite. Cheers guys.  
_**

 ** _*Edit 3/01/18: In order to comply with the Colour naming rules for OC's that Monty Oum created, I have changed Remus' last name to Viridian._**


	2. Familiar Faces, New Friends

_**Unknown location, Forever Fall**_

The Beowolf snarled at the hooded figure, desperate to find the source of the fear it could smell. It took one step forwards, and then, nothing. The figure watched as the Beowolf faded away, before turning back to the small children that he had saved. Sheathing his sword, the man crouched down to look the kids in the eye.

"Now, now," he was saying. "You guys are safe now. It's okay. I'm gonna make sure you get home safely." Reaching back, he removed the hood covering his face, and asked the kids for their names.

"Em-Emily, and C-C-Connor, sir," came the frightened reply. The man smiled at them.

"Well, Emily and Connor, my name is Cade. Cade Greyclaw," he said. "And I think it's about time we got you home, don't you think?" Standing up, Cade helped the kids to their feet, and led them back towards the village that he had come from.

After dropping the kids back with their parents, Cade pulled out his Scroll, and called his brother, Derek. "Hey, sorry I'm running late," he was saying. "I ran into a couple of Beowolves on my way home, so I had to take care of them. Yes, I know that there are proper Huntsmen to take care of that, but if I didn't do something, then -" Cade winced as his brother screamed into his scroll, obviously not caring why he had done it.

"Listen, Derek. If I hadn't stopped to kill those Grimm, then two little kids would never have made it home. You know that I was in a similar situation at their age." Cade shot back. With that, Derek stopped his yelling.

Looking at his watch, Cade's eyes widened when he saw the time. "Oh, crap. Derek, I know you don't often do this, but I need a Breach right now. Yes, I'll send you a picture, just hurry. Next time you need a Dust refill, it's on me." Turning back to the signpost announcing the name of the village, Cade snapped off a photo with his Scroll, and sent it to Derek. Moments later, a shimmering orange hole appeared next to the sign, startling some of the people on the road. Cade gave a mock salute, and stepped into the rift, which disappeared with a slight 'pop'.

* * *

 _ **Vale**_

Derek Greyclaw shook his head as he watched his brother Cade emerge from the rift that Derek had used to transport him here.

"Is it that hard for you to keep track of the bloody time, Cade?" he said, exasperatedly shaking his head at his brother. Cade simply grinned back at him.

"Hey, it wasn't my fault that those Beowolves decided to attack!" he shot back. Derek just threw his hands in the air as he walked away.

"You coming or what?" he asked his brother. "The Airships won't wait for you!" Cade perked up at this, and ran towards his brother, ducking and weaving through the crowd.

 _This is it_ , Cade thought to himself. _This is the day that I officially begin my career as a Huntsman! I'm finally going to attend Beacon Academy. I've only been dreaming of this day for the past two years. I mean, I know that I can put up a fair fight, but this is BEACON!_

Derek, however, having boarded the transport, was busy tinkering with his Dust Gauntlets, in an attempt to better secure the Dust chambers to the rotating section of the glove. He was so immersed in his work, that he failed to notice that he had attracted the attention of a certain young girl dressed in black, with a distinctive red hooded cloak fastened to her shoulders. Looking up, Derek was surprised to see a pair of wide, silver eyes staring back at him. After a few moments, he jumped back, as did the girl.

"Umm, hi?" he tentatively said. "Can I help you?" The girl just blushed, before timidly replying.

"Hi. I was just admiring your gloves. They look neat," she said, gaining confidence with each word. She looked at him, brows furrowed as if she was trying to recall something, when Derek swore he saw an actual lightbulb appear above her.

"Oh, um, sorry. My name's Ruby. Ruby Rose," she managed to say. "I'm kind of a geek when it comes to weapons, and I tend to forget to introduce myself. What's your name?" Ruby finished.

Derek just looked at her, before chuckling to himself. "Derek," he replied, still chuckling. "Derek Greyclaw. Pardon me for saying, but aren't you a little young to be attending Beacon?" he inquired.

Ruby's eyes lit up at that. "Well, you see, the thing is, umm, I kinda got caught in the middle of a Dust robbery a few nights ago, and I managed to stop the guys from getting away with the Dust," and with that, she proceeded to explain how she met Professor Ozpin, who Derek knew was the Headmaster of Beacon. "And so, basically, he kinda offered me a position at Beacon early," she finished. Derek was impressed by her story.

"So, can you show me your weapons?" Ruby asked him. "I really wanna see what those things do!" And so, Derek got to work explaining the mechanics behind his gauntlets, Ruby nodding excitedly as he went. At one point, Ruby asked him if he had based the design off of someone named Yang, who Derek reasoned was a friend of hers.

"Nah, these babies are my own personal design," he told her. "I've never even met this Yang that you're talking about."

Before Ruby could ask any more questions, Derek spotted Cade making his way towards them, a hurt look on his face.

"Making new friends without me, Derek?" he said. "That's just rude. And here I thought we were supposed to be family." Ruby perked up at this, and turned towards Cade.

"Hi, my name's Ru- WHOAH, you've got one too?" she interrupted herself as she caught sight of Cade's right hand. Cade glanced at her, then at his brother, who just shrugged.

"I'm sorry, I didn't quite catch that," he said, a smile on his face. "My name is Cade, nice to meet you." Ruby looked back at him, sheepishly.

"Oh, sorry," she replied. "My name's Ruby Rose. I'm apparently the youngest person ever to be accepted into Beacon" she said proudly. Cade was about to continue the conversation, when a rather lanky blonde boy came rushing past, puking near some blonde girl's feet. Ruby stood up at that.

"Oh no, looks like I need to go and calm my sister down," she explained. "Still, it was nice meeting you guys!" she cried as she ran towards the blonde, who Cade swore was actually on fire.

Cade looked at Derek. "Well, she seemed nice," he said. Derek had to agree.

* * *

 _ **Beacon Academy, 5 minutes later**_

Jasper Arazeiros looked around, taking in the sights of Beacon. He knew that this was his chance to make something of himself. Back in Atlas, he was lucky to escape the discrimination that most of his kind faced, but only because his Semblance allowed him to blend in. Being a Faunus was not easy, especially when everyone was more than willing to abuse you, be it verbal or physical. Being able to literally become invisible was a godsend, but he couldn't help but feel ashamed by the fact that he was hiding who he really was, just to avoid the fate that nearly every other Faunus suffered.

Jasper was distracted from his musings by the sound of someone stumbling over their luggage. Racing towards the sound, he got there just in time to witness a young girl in black sneeze into a cloud of Dust, igniting a chain reaction. The ensuing explosion almost caused him to lose control of his Semblance, revealing his eagle wings to the world. Luckily, he got a hold of himself, just in time to see a girl dressed in a white dress start screaming at the exploding teen. Looking at the scene, he was shocked to see that it was none other than Weiss Schnee, heiress to the Schnee Dust Company, and his long-time rival. Smirking, he walked over to her, and tapped her on the shoulder.

"Now, now, Weiss, surely you can make a better first impression than that?" he said. Weiss turned towards the newcomer, before somehow going even more pale as she recognized Jasper.

"You!" she spat. "What are you doing here? I thought that, given your last embarrassment, you would have crawled under some rock in Vacuo." Jasper just smiled, at her, before replying.

"Well, when I heard that you would be running away to Beacon, rather than attending Atlas Academy, I just had to see it for myself." Jasper laughed. "Glad to see I wasn't disappointed."

Weiss just glared at him, then, with a wave to the people carrying her luggage, stormed off towards the auditorium. Jasper took one last look at her, then turned to help the other girl up off the ground, only to see that another blonde boy had beaten him to the punch. Cheerfully, he extended his hand to the two of them, and introduced himself.

"Right, sorry about all that," he said. "Weiss is a bit, _difficult_ , to say the least. Anyway, I'm Jasper. Jasper Arazeiros. Pleased to meet you." The blonde boy stepped forward.

"Jaune Arc," he said, proudly. "Short, sweet, rolls off the tongue. Ladies love it!"

"Do they?" the girl asked, skeptically. Jaune began stammering, trying to justify himself. The girl identified herself as one Ruby Rose, then quickly proceeded to show off her massive scythe.

"So, I got this thing," she said, nervously. Jaune jumped back a few feet, whereas Jasper just smirked.

"Nice scythe," he said. Ruby beamed at him, just as Jaune regained his composure.

"Thanks! I made her myself. She's called Crescent Rose," she said excitedly. "She's also a customizable, high-impact sniper rifle!" Jasper was impressed. Jaune just looked at her with a blank expression.

"Uhhhh, what?" he asked. Jasper turned to look at him.

"It's also a gun," he clarified. Ruby looked slightly hurt at that, so he amended his statement. "She. She's also a gun." With that, Ruby inquired about their own weapons. Jaune held up his sword.

"Umm, I've got this sword," he said nervously. Ruby's eyes went wide, as she let out a soft 'oooh'. Jaune also held up his scabbard. "Oh, and I've got this shield too." As he said that, the scabbard expanded into a small white shield, adorned with what Jasper assumed was the Arc family crest. He zoned out for a second, but was brought back to reality by Ruby.

"So, what about you, Jasper?" she was asking. Jasper reached for the hilt of his weapon, Fiendslayer. Holding it up, he gestured to it.

"Well, I have this. Meet Fiendslayer." Jasper said. Ruby just stared at it, slightly puzzled. Seeing this, Jasper decided he should show his new friends what he was actually holding. Depressing a small button near the edge of the hilt, Jasper watched Ruby's Eyes light up as Fiendslayer's Katana blade extended into position. Jasper demonstrated a few basic swipes, before turning back to Ruby and Jaune.

"That. Is. AWESOME!" Ruby shouted. Jasper chuckled at this.

"Well, that's not all it can do, you know," he said, a sly grin creeping onto his face. Jasper didn't think it was possible, but Ruby's eyes and smile widened even further.

Depressing another button on the other end of the hilt, he turned the blade around, so that the curve was facing away from him. Warning Ruby to stand back, he extended a secondary blade, also curving away from him, and ignited the self-contained beam of energy between the two tips.

"This is called a Plasma Arc," Jasper said. "It's essentially a beam of energy with enough power to slice through a block of solid steel, like a knife through butter." Even Jaune looked impressed by this. Deactivating the plasma arc, he returned Fiendslayer to its compact form, and replaced it on his belt.

Jasper looked at his watch, and swore. "Damn it. We're gonna be late for the orientation," he said, already running towards the auditorium. Ruby blushed slightly, before following suit.

"See you later, Jaune," she yelled over her shoulder.

* * *

 _ **Several Hours Later, Beacon Ballroom**_

Remus Viridian looked across the ballroom with his one good eye, scanning for any threats. An old habit of his. Satisfied, he turned back to the only other person in the room that he knew, who was currently reading a book.

"Blake," he said. "Why is it that every time I look away, you've always got your nose buried in a different book?" Blake just ignored him, too busy reading to even dignify that with an answer.

Looking up, Remus noticed a rather tall girl with blond hair, and a shorter girl with short black hair standing in front of them. "Hey, aren't you that girl that exploded earlier?" he asked the short one.

"Uhhh, yeah," she said. "My name's Ruby, but you can just call me… crater… Actually, just call me Ruby…" she mumbled. That finally managed to draw Blake's attention away from that bloody book.

Remus' wolf ears pricked up as he heard the two newcomers whispering to each other. Before he could say anything, the blonde girl started to talk to them.

"Sooo, what's your names?" she said, with a surprising amount of optimism. Blake looked up from her book, before replying.

"Blake" she said, trying to convey her annoyance at the constant interruption.

Remus introduced himself also. "Don't worry about her," he told the two girls. "She always gets like this when she's reading."

"Well, Blake, Remus," the blonde said, "I'm Yang. Ruby's older sister!"

Remus turned to her, and proceeded to try and convince her that Blake wasn't as bad as she seemed. Blake however, wasn't having any of it.

"Well, it was, nice, to meet you two" she said. "Almost as nice as this book. Which I will continue to read. As soon as you leave." Yang turned away, muttering something about a lost cause, when Ruby spoke.

"What's it about?" she asked Blake. Remus saw Blake's Cat ears, hidden beneath her bow as they were, prick up. Obviously, she wasn't expecting someone to be interested in her book. Remus halfheartedly listened to two girls talk about the book, when he saw another girl, this time wearing a white nightdress walk over, her white hair flowing down her back. Both he and Blake tensed up at the sight of her, for someone with such hair could only be a Schnee. Thankfully, she didn't seem to notice the two of them, instead focusing on Ruby and Yang. The three of them began getting into an argument, however, before it could get too loud, Remus reached for the candle that Blake was using to read, and snuffed it out, ending the argument prematurely. Remus watched the trio return to their respective sleeping bags with his enhanced vision, before rolling over to sleep. Sleep didn't come to him though. Instead, all he saw was Adam slashing upwards with Wilt, before sleep finally claimed him.

* * *

 _ **A/N: Hey Guys. So, here it is. Chapter 2 done and dusted. For those that are interested, I am planning on uploading a copy of my character notes for Team CDAR, so that you guys can understand where I'm coming from. Cheers guys, and don't forget to leave a review, and if you deem it worthy, a follow, or even a favourite.**_

 _ ***Edit 3/01/18: Changed the names of the OC's, to comply with the color naming rule. Cade and Derek are now Greyclaws, not Flyhytes, Jarek Arazeiros is now Jasper Arazeiros, and Remus Dalanthan is now Remus Viridian.**_


	3. Birth of Team CDAR

_**A/N: Hey guys, here's the new chapter. For those of you who are wondering why I am constantly referring to Team RWBY by their descriptions, keep in mind that this story is told from Team CDAR's POV. As such, they won't know who these people are automatically, they need to be introduced every time. Other than that, Enjoy the new Chapter!**_

* * *

 _ **Beacon Academy Locker Room, Vale**_

Cade was grinning from ear to ear as he collected his sword, BloodFang, from the locker he had placed it in overnight. He couldn't believe that he had actually made it to Beacon. _I made it, Dad,_ he thought to himself. _I'm finally here. I know that I'm gonna make you proud._ Slipping on his sole Dust Gauntlet, he turned to Derek, who had also donned his Gauntlets, Asmodeus and Azazel.

"You ready, man?" he asked his brother. Derek looked at him, his face curled up into a confident smirk.

"Hell yes, brother," came the reply. Cade just rolled his eyes at the reference to his brother's nickname. Getting up to stretch, he noticed a rather familiar-looking girl in black and red, and decided to wish her luck.

"Hey Ruby," he said cheerfully. Ruby looked over at him, as did the tall blonde behind her.

"Hey Cade. Have you met my sister yet?" she asked him. Cade shook his head, before extending his hand to the blonde in greeting.

"Hi, I'm Cade Greyclaw. Nice to meet you." Cade said. He immediately remembered where he'd seen her before. "Aren't you the girl who caught fire after that kid puked on your shoes?" he asked.

The girl looked at him strangely, before realizing what he was talking about. "Oh, that. That was part of my Semblance. Whenever I get angry, my eyes turn red, and my hair often catches fire" she said. Ruby elbowed her in the ribs, reminding her to actually introduce herself. "Hi Cade, I'm Yang Xiao-Long, Ruby's older sister." Cade chuckled to himself.

"Well, Yang, remind me never to get on your bad side," he said with a smile. "Anyway, I just wanted to wish you ladies good luck with Initiation today." With a wave from Ruby, and a rather suggestive wink from Yang, Cade wandered back over to Derek, only to run into an old acquaintance of theirs.

"Weiss? Weiss Schnee?" he asked the girl in front of him. As she turned around, she looked him in the eye, and smiled. Cade raised an eyebrow at that, as the Weiss Schnee he knew never smiled.

"Can I help you?" she asked, obviously not recognizing him. Cade took a deep breath, and introduced himself.

"Honestly, Weiss, I'm surprised that you don't remember me, especially after that duet we sang at your father's last fundraiser" he said with a smirk. It took a couple of seconds, but Weiss finally recognized Cade.

"Oh, I'm sorry Cade, I didn't recognize you in that hood" she apologized. Cade just smiled and told her not to worry about it.

She hugged Cade, obviously happy to see someone that she actually knew and liked, instead of having to put up with that Ruby girl, or Jasper. Cade quizzed her on the new scar by her eye, and got quite the shock to find out the truth behind it. Even though he liked Weiss, her father, Jacques, left something to be desired. Cade wished her well, and moved off to find Derek.

On the other side of the locker room, Jasper watched as Weiss hugged that guy she sang with at the SDC Fundraiser two months ago. He struggled to remember his name, when it clicked. _Cade Greyclaw. Great,_ he thought to himself. _More competition. Just what I needed._

Reaching into his locker, he retrieved Fiendslayer, and, turning around, bumped right into a big guy with wolf ears poking up from his head, and a massive scar over where his left eye should have been. He noticed that there was a girl next to him, who rushed over to help him up off of the ground.

"Sorry about Remus," she was saying. "His vision's not been the same since the accident." Standing up, Jasper shook their hands, introducing himself as he did so.

"No worries, it was mostly my fault anyway" he said. "I'm Jasper." The girl introduced herself as Blake, while the wolf Faunus introduced himself as Remus.

Suddenly, the voice of Glynda Goodwitch echoed across the room, asking for all the new students to report to the cliff for initiation. With that, Jasper bid Blake and Remus farewell, then joined the rush of students headed out to the cliff.

* * *

 _ **Beacon Cliff, Five minutes later**_

"For years, you have trained to become warriors," Professor Ozpin was saying, "and today, your abilities will be evaluated in the Emerald Forest." Remus zoned out, only paying enough attention to find out what their objective would be. Blake noticed this, and snapped him out of it just as Ozpin instructed the students to take their positions. Readying Romulus, Remus prepared for his catapult to launch him towards the forest. He looked over at Blake, both of them knowing to try and meet up with the other when they land.

Suddenly, he was weightless, soaring through the air. Remus converted Romulus into its sickle form, just as he had that day on the train, and managed to hook a branch as he was falling. Remus used his momentum to swing up and over the branch, repeating the process as he descended below the canopy.

One by one, the students were flung into the air. Cade reached his left hand over to his right wrist, no easy feat at the speed he was travelling at, and unsheathed the dagger he kept concealed there. Reaching out, Cade plunged the dagger into the trunk of the nearest tree, and slid downwards, slowing his fall. Every few feet, he was forced to jump to another tree, but eventually, he managed to hit the ground, rolling as he did so to absorb any remaining momentum.

Standing up, he looked around, and using the position of the sun, combined with the direction the shadows were creeping, determined which way was North. Sheathing the dagger, he looked up in time to see his brother using Asmodeus and Azazel to slow his fall, before using his Semblance to open a rift in front of him.

Rolling through the other end of the rift he had opened, Derek had finally managed to reach the ground. Standing up and dusting himself off, he reached over and tapped his brother on the shoulder. Cade looked around, and saw Derek standing there grinning from ear to ear.

"Well, brother," Derek was saying, "I guess that makes us partners now, doesn't it?" Cade just shoved Derek away, before pointing in the direction he had previously identified as North. The two brothers started jogging towards the ruins that Ozpin had said held the relics that they needed to acquire, but before they could get very far, they found themselves surrounded by a pack of Ursai. Drawing BloodFang, Cade readied himself, just as Derek spun the Dust chambers on Asmodeus and Azazel, and charged.

* * *

 _ **Emerald Forest**_

Jasper made sure that he was the last student to be launched, watching Ozpin launch Jaune in the middle of his question. When he was sure that there were no other students, Jasper nodded at Ozpin, and felt his feet leave the ground. Jasper allowed his Semblance to drop, revealing the traits that marked him as an eagle Faunus. Letting his wings spread fully, Jasper used them to glide down to the forest floor, before looking around to see if anyone had seen him. After dusting himself off, Jasper used his Semblance to hide his wings once more, and ran in the direction that he knew the temple to be in, having had ample time to map his route during the fall. He made it all of ten feet before once again running into, and knocking over Remus, the Wolf Faunus he had met earlier. As he stood up once more, he glanced around, looking to see if anyone else was around.

Remus just groaned. He was hoping to run into Blake before either of them found a partner, but obviously that plan was shot to pieces. _Oh well,_ he thought. _At least he's a Faunus, regardless of how he tries to hide it._

"Fancy running into you out here," Jasper said. Remus just grunted in reply. "Alright. Let's get this over with, shall we?"

* * *

 _ **Elsewhere**_

Cade slashed upwards with BloodFang, decapitating the final Ursa. Stowing the blade, he turned to Derek, before gesturing towards the temple. The pair made it there just in time to see Ruby falling from the sky, whilst Weiss was clinging to a Nevermore for dear life. Cade turned to the temple, and grabbed the nearest 'Relic', which turned out to be a black Rook chess piece. After securing the 'relic', Cade turned back to the group of people standing by the ruins, watching a redheaded girl ride in on the back of an Ursa, Pyrrha Nikos outrunning a Deathstalker, and Weiss and some other blonde dude falling from the sky. Caught up in all of this, Cade nearly failed to notice two other people show up to claim their 'relic' – a wolf Faunus, and some other tall guy, who he could swear he knew from somewhere.

Banishing that thought from his mind for now, Cade focused on the task at hand, when Weiss and Ruby spoke up.

"Look, there's no sense in dilly-dallying," Weiss said to the assembled group. "Our objective is right in front of us." Ruby nodded her agreement.

"She's right. Our mission is to grab an artifact and make it back to the cliffs." Ruby looked over to Weiss, who Cade realized was her partner. "There's no point in fighting these things." The blonde kid said something about 'running and living', and Cade had to agree with him on that.

As the Deathstalker ripped its stinger free of the ice that someone, _probably Weiss_ , had encased it in, the twelve teens ran towards another set of ruins, trying to avoid the Nevermore circling overhead. Cade grabbed Derek and pulled him behind a pillar, just as the other pairs did the same. They didn't stay there for long, as the Deathstalker drove them towards an ancient stone bridge, the Nevermore circled around and slammed into them, splitting the twelve apart. Cade and Derek were stuck on the side with the Deathstalker, along with Pyrrha, Blake and Ren.

Converting BloodFang to its rifle form, Cade and Pyrrha opened fire on the Deathstalker, but were unable to pierce its thick armor. Suddenly, he saw Jaune come flying over from the other side of the ruined bridge, followed closely by Nora, the Ursa-riding redhead, who was now riding a flying hammer. Cade watched as she slammed the hammer into the Deathstalker's head, before flying backwards as she used the hammer to push herself out of range of the stinger. Unfortunately, Nora bumped into Blake, sending her flying off of the cliff. Cade didn't see what happened next, as he was busy dodging the creature's pincers as they swung at him.

Remus and Jasper, meanwhile, had landed on the other side of the bridge, and were busy helping Ruby, Yang and Weiss try and fight the Nevermore. Remus took one last look at Blake, and saw Nora accidentally push her off of the cliff, but luckily, Blake managed to unsheathe Gambol Shroud, and converting it to its kusarigama form, latch on to the bridge and swing herself over to his side. Letting out the breath he was holding in, Remus turned towards the Nevermore, and, gesturing to the others to cover their ears, let loose with his Semblance, using the ultrasonic howl to disorient the Nevermore. Once that was done, he witnessed Ruby, using Gambol Shroud's ribbon, and Weiss' Glyphs, launch herself towards the Nevermore, catching its neck with the blade of her scythe, and, with assistance from Weiss, run straight up the side of the cliff, decapitating the beast as she reached the top.

Derek, meanwhile was using his Semblance to get underneath the Deathstalker, and was unleashing great swathes of Fire Dust from Asmodeus and Azazel. _After all,_ he thought to himself as he did this, _there is a reason they used to call me 'Hellblaze'._ Standing up, he watched as Pyrrha threw her shield at the Deathstalker's stinger, in a failed attempt to sever its stinger. Nodding at Cade, Derek opened up another rift with his Semblance, and watched as Cade leapt through, using BloodFang to sever the tail as he went. Once he had landed, Jaune yelled at Nora, and Derek watched as Nora vaulted off of Pyrrha's shield, with some explosive assistance from her grenade launcher, and slammed the tip of the Deathstalker's tail into its head, killing it instantly. Congratulating each other, the six teens looked across the ravine, just in time to witness Ruby decapitate the Nevermore.

 _Damn,_ Derek thought. _Now I understand why Ozpin let her in early._

* * *

 _ **Beacon Auditorium, Three Hours later**_

"Russel Thrush, Cardin Winchester, Dove Bronzewing, and Sky Lark," boomed Ozpin's voice. "The four of you retrieved the black Bishop pieces. From this day forward, you will work together as Team CRDL (Cardinal), led by Cardin Winchester." Jasper watched as Ozpin congratulated the four boys on stage, before turning to Remus.

"I didn't see them at all in the forest," he whispered. "What about you?" Remus just ignored him, focused on the ceremony. Ozpin was busy calling the next four students up.

"Jaune Arc, Lie Ren, Pyrrha Nikos, and Nora Valkyrie," he continued. "The four of you retrieved the white Rook pieces. From this day forward, you will work together as Team JNPR (Juniper), led by Jaune Arc." Jaune looked up in shock, and Remus heard Ozpin personally congratulate the boy, before calling the next group of four on to the stage.

"Blake Belladonna, Ruby Rose, Weiss Schnee, and Yang Xiao-Long. The four of you retrieved the white Knight pieces," Ozpin said. "From this day forward, you will work together as Team RWBY (Ruby), led by Ruby Rose. Congratulations." Remus' ears pricked up at that. Even he was surprised that the youngest student to attend Beacon would be named as the leader of her own team.

Ozpin, however, was yet to finish. "Jasper Arazeiros, Remus Viridian, and Cade and Derek Greyclaw." Ozpin waited as the final quartet assembled on the stage. "The four of you collected the black Rook pieces. From this day forward, you will work together as Team CDAR (Cedar), led by Cade Greyclaw."

The four new teammates all looked at each other, each knowing that this was going to be an interesting four years at Beacon Academy.

* * *

 _ **A/N: So there it is, Chapter 3 all wrapped up neat and tidy. Don't forget - Review, follow, and if it's worthy, a favourite wouldn't go amiss. Cheers guys!**_

 _ **Also, before I go: I am considering looking into asking someone to become a beta reader. If anyone is interested in helping a new author out, flick me a PM, or leave a review. Thanks.**_

 _ ***Edit 3/01/18: Name changes, same reason as the previous chapters**_


	4. Getting the Boarbatusk Rolling

_**Team CDAR's Dorm room**_

Remus was suddenly awoken, his ears picking up the shrill ringing of a whistle nearby. Sitting up in his bed, he took a moment to familiarize himself with his new surroundings. Looking around the room, he saw the sleeping forms of his new teammates, Cade, Derek and Jasper. He noticed that their belongings were still strewn across the room as they had left them last night. Stretching, Remus got up, and, finding his new uniform, dressed himself, before leaving his teammates to their slumber. Remus decided that he would head to the dining hall, and grab some food. Looking down at his watch, he noticed that his team only had around 20 minutes before their first class of the day. Sighing, Remus turned to head back and wake up his team, grabbing an apple on his way out.

Cade was enjoying his slumber, dreaming about his childhood before he was adopted by Derek's family. His father, a rather prominent Huntsman, was smiling as he watched his son devour a massive stack of Blueberry pancakes. Cade watched as his father opened his mouth, but instead of his voice, the only thing he heard was an extremely loud… howling? Cade bolted out of bed, desperate to find the source of the agonizing howl, and throttle it. He was relieved when Remus finally stopped, but angered that it had even happened in the first place.

"Remus," he yelled. "What. The. Bloody. Hell. Are. You. Doing?" Remus simply gestured to his watch, before replying.

"Well, Cade," he began, "by my watch, we have exactly 15 minutes before we are supposed to be in Professor Port's class. I merely came back to ensure that the three of you didn't sleep through it." Cade shot him a dirty look, before searching for his uniform. He watched as Derek stumbled into the shower, obviously planning on taking as much time as possible.

Once they were all dressed and ready to go, much to Remus' relief, Team CDAR heard what sounded like a massive pile up of bodies outside their door. Popping his head out to investigate, Jasper witnessed the eight members of Teams RWBY and JNPR sprint past them, obviously in a similar predicament. Flinging the door open, he gestured to the rest of his team, only to see Derek shake his head, smiling.

"Why take the long way around?" Derek asked them. "I can get us there before those guys make it to the bottom of the stairs." With that, Derek activated his Semblance, and opened a rift that would deposit them right outside the door to the classroom. He gestured to the rest of his team.

"Well, come on then," he said. "We're gonna be late!"

* * *

 _ **Professor Port's Classroom, Five minutes later**_

Cade had just sat down, when, suddenly, the door at the back of the classroom slammed open. Turning to look, he laughed when he saw Teams RWBY and JNPR burst through the door, panting heavily. Cade was grinning from ear to ear as he waved them over, enjoying the looks on their puzzled faces.

"How the hell did you guys beat us down here?" Yang asked him. "You guys were right behind us back in the dorm!" Cade just looked at her, a mischievous glint in his eye.

"Can't tell you that, sorry" he chuckled. "Trade secret. Maybe I'll fill you in some other time." Yang just slugged him in the arm, which, even though Cade could tell she had pulled the punch, hurt like hell. Rubbing his arm, Cade settled in, ready to learn what he could.

Remus waved Blake over, intent on apologizing for failing to partner up with her in the forest. As she sat down, he began to speak, but was interrupted by Professor Port as he introduced himself to the class.

"Monsters," Port was saying. "Demons. Prowlers of the Night! Yes, the Creatures of Grimm have many names, but I merely refer to them as… _prey_!" He laughed at that, proud to have made such a lame joke. Not even Yang Xiao-Long, self-confessed Master of the Pun, found it funny.

Remus began to zone out, and turned to look at Blake instead. Surprisingly, Blake was sitting up and paying attention to Port, although the same could not be said for the rest of the class. Looking around, Remus saw that of the thirty or so students in the room, only Blake, Weiss, and Yang were even trying to pay attention. Cade and Ruby were busy doodling, while Derek was fiddling under his desk. Remus looked closely at him, and saw Derek use a small rift to retrieve one of his Dust gauntlets, before proceeding to tinker with some of the mechanisms involved. Shaking his head slightly, Remus looked over at the final member of his team, and did a doubletake when he saw Jasper slumped over his desk, fast asleep.

 _Of course,_ he thought to himself. _There is always one person who sleeps during class._ Remus turned to Derek, smirking to himself as he heard Port waffle on about his adventures.

"Hey, Derek," he whispered to his teammate. "Can you make me a small rift that opens right above Jasper's back?" Derek just grinned as he did so, catching on to what the wolf Faunus had planned.

Reaching his hand through the rift, Remus reached down and pinched Jasper tightly on the shoulder. The sudden pain caused Jasper to sit bolt upright and raise his hand in the air, still immersed in his dream.

"EYYYY-OWWW!" Jasper shouted. The entire class turned to look at him, as he sheepishly sat back down. Jasper swore he saw Weiss smirk at him, before she returned to taking notes. He quickly apologized to Professor Port, before looking around, trying to find the culprit responsible for his outburst. Glancing along the row of seats he was in, he saw Derek, Remus and Blake trying their best not to burst into uncontrollable fits of laughter. Shooting them a murderous look, Jasper promised himself that he would get them back for that.

Meanwhile, Cade and Ruby were busy comparing their doodles. Ruby had drawn a simple stick figure image of the Professor, adding in wavy stink lines, labelling her creation as 'Professor Poop'. Cade, flexing his artistic muscle, had, in the five or so minutes the pair had been drawing, managed to create an almost exact replica of Port, with one exception. Cade had taken it upon himself to replace Port's head with that of a pig, before adding in the teacher's grey hair and mustache. Cade had commissioned his work as 'Professor Porky', earning a raucous bout of laughter from Yang and Ruby, which managed to startle their teacher, seemingly reminding him that he had a class to actually teach.

"In the end," Port said, "the Beowolf was no match for my sheer tenacity, and I returned to my village with the beast in captivity, and my head held high. The townsfolk celebrated me, as a hero." Finishing his tale with a small bow, Port turned towards the class once more.

"The moral of the story?" he asked rhetorically. "A true Huntsman must be honorable. A true Huntsman must be dependable. A true Huntsman must be strategic, well-educated, and wise!" Weiss was looking at Cade and Ruby, anger rising mostly towards the younger girl, as the pair goofed off every time Port opened his mouth.

"So," Port continued. "Who among you believes themselves to be the embodiment of these traits?" Weiss' hand shot straight up as he finished, joining Cade's, who had forgotten to lower his after Port finished speaking.

"I do, Sir!" Weiss exclaimed. Port simply beamed at the sight of two hands in the air. Cade noticed that the whole class was staring at his raised hand, and just decided to roll with it. He hadn't been paying any attention to what the Professor had been saying, but that didn't stop him from agreeing with whatever had been said.

"Splendid," Port said. "Let's find out, shall we? Both of you have five minutes to retrieve your weapons before your test." With that, Cade watched as Weiss stormed out of the classroom, before standing up and following her out.

For the second time in two days, Cade retrieved BloodFang from his locker, slinging the sword over his shoulder, before donning his Dust Gauntlet. Looking over towards Weiss, he saw her angrily slamming the door of her locker, before stowing her rapier, Myrtenaster, and walking back to class. Making sure that his Gauntlet was loaded with enough Dust vials, Cade jogged after her.

As the pair returned, Port gestured to Weiss, indicating that she would be the first to take the 'test'.

"Step forward, and face your opponent," he said, whipping the cloth off of one of the two cages he had brought in. Cade glanced around the room, watching as the rest of Team RWBY cheered her on, frowning slightly as Weiss snapped at Ruby.

Weiss nodded to him, and the Professor reached forward, using the axe blade on his weapon to smash the cage's lock, releasing the beast within. Cade jumped slightly as the Boarbatusk charged at Weiss, narrowly missing her as she jumped aside. Raising Myrtenaster, Weiss ignored Ruby's encouragement, before charging towards the Grimm. Cade watched as the Boarbatusk batted Weiss aside, trapping Myrtenaster between its upper tusks. Weiss struggled with the creature for several seconds, before allowing herself to be distracted by Ruby, who was trying to cheer her on. Cade, as well as the rest of the class, witnessed the Boarbatusk use the distraction as an opportunity to fling Weiss across the room, and Myrtenaster in the opposite direction. Cade looked over at Ruby, who was desperately trying to tell Weiss to try and strike at the creature's underside, which possessed no armor. He was shocked to hear Weiss' response.

"Stop telling me what to do!" she yelled at the younger girl, who visibly recoiled. Cade was sure that he saw tears welling in Ruby's eyes as she tried to shrink into her seat. In fact, he was so focused on Ruby, that he almost failed to notice Weiss reclaim her weapon, and use her Semblance to summon a pair of glyphs from which to leap down and slay the Boarbatusk.

Port congratulated Weiss on her performance, before calling Cade forward. As he passed Remus, he couldn't help but arrange a wager on his fight.

"Hey, Remus. 20 Lien says that I can kill this thing without using BloodFang" he said as he walked past. Remus grunted an affirmative, shaking Cade's hand as he walked past.

Once Cade had assumed his position, Port removed the cloth from the second cage, which Cade noted was much bigger that the one that had held Weiss' opponent. Shaking the doubts from his mind, Cade indicated that he was ready.

"Let the match begin!" Port yelled, swinging his axe down on the lock.

Cade spun the chamber on his Gauntlet, selecting the Dust vial that he would use. Staring at the red eyes of a much, much larger Boarbatusk, Cade braced himself for what he was about to do. The rest of the class fell silent as they heard him begin to taunt the massive Grimm, forcing it to curl up and spin towards him like a demonic wrecking ball. Smirking, Cade reached out his hand, and, using his Semblance, summoned his own glyph, small enough to go completely unnoticed by the class. Using the tiny glyph, combined with the vial of Gravity Dust he had selected at the start of the match, Cade forced the Boarbatusk to slow its spin, before stopping outright. Immediately spinning the chamber on his Dust Gauntlet, Cade selected an Ice Dust vial, before coating his fist with it, and slammed it down onto the Boarbatusk's head with enough force to crack the floor beneath it. Standing up, Cade watched as the Grimm slowly disintegrated, before turning to face the class. He smirked as he saw Port's jaw drop, before returning to his seat.

"Well," Port said to the class. "It appears that we are indeed in the presence of a true Huntsman. Well done indeed, Mr Greyclaw." With that, Port turned back to the class, and announced the end of the class, reminding them to 'stay vigilant'. Cade turned to congratulate Weiss, but found that she had already stormed out of the room.

"Well then, Remus," Cade said to his Wolf-eared friend. "I'll collect my winnings after Lunch." With a smirk, and a single eye-roll from Remus, Cade walked out of the class, Jasper in tow. As the two rounded a corner, they found Weiss berating Ruby, complaining that she didn't deserve to be at Beacon.

"Ozpin made a mistake," she said as she walked off, leaving Ruby close to tears. Cade felt Jasper tap him on the shoulder, nodding as his teammate agreed to go have a chat with Weiss. Watching him go, Cade turned to Ruby, who had sunk to the floor, face buried in her hands. Cade sat down next to her, as he heard the girl desperately trying to keep herself from bursting into tears. Cade coughed to get her attention. Ruby just looked at him, her usually sparkling silver eyes now a dull shade of grey.

"Wh-What if she's right Cade?" Ruby whimpered. "What if Ozpin did make a mistake, making me the leader?" Cade just smiled at her, shaking his head slowly.

"Ruby," he said, "do you know what I think? I think that you are a kind, caring person. I think that you're the type of person who will do whatever it takes to help those around her, regardless of whether they ask for it. And you know what I think above all else? I think, no, I know that you are going to be a great leader.

"Look, if you were to look back on every great leader in history, do you know what each and every one of them had in common?" Ruby just shook her head, not understanding where he was going with this.

"They all made the people that looked up to them their first priority. They cared about those they were supposed to be leading." Cade told her. "You've got a big heart, kid. Don't be afraid to use it."

Standing up, Cade reached out to help Ruby up off of the floor. As he hoisted her up, he was not expecting her to wrap her arms around him in a hug. Cade looked down at the girl, before patting her on the head, not fighting the hug.

"Thanks, Cade" she said, looking back up at him. Cade was happy to see that her eyes had returned to their normal silver.

"Any time, Ruby" he replied. "Any time."

* * *

 _ **Elsewhere**_

Jasper jogged over to where Weiss was standing. He was furious when he heard what she had said to Ruby.

"Hey, Weiss," he yelled, trying to get her attention. Weiss looked towards him, before turning away, ignoring him. Jasper tried again, letting some of his anger drip into his words.

"OI, I'm talking to you, Ice Queen!" he shouted. Weiss looked towards him, bloody murder in her eyes. She wasn't expecting what happened next.

Once he caught up to her, he slapped her across the face, hard enough that it stung, even through her Aura. She looked back at him, shocked.

"How dare yo–" she began.

"How dare I?" Jasper interrupted her. "How dare you. What gives you the right to speak to Ruby like that? What gives you the right to tell her that Ozpin made a mistake?"

"There's no way that she is ready to be a leader," Weiss said slowly. "Hell, she shouldn't even be at this school, acting like she is. It's obvious, if you look at it." Jasper just stared at the heiress.

"What, and you think that you should be the leader instead of her?" he asked her. "You think that you are that much better than Ruby is?" Now, it was Weiss' turn to stare at Jasper.

"I may not be perfect, Jasper," she said. "But I am still far better than she will ever be." Jasper's blood ran cold as she spoke.

"The only mistake that Ozpin made," he hissed, "was letting you attend this school. Weiss Schnee, the Ice Queen who ran all the way to Beacon to prove that she was nothing like her father. Well, Weiss, I've got news for you. You may be the one speaking, but all I hear is your father." Weiss was shocked at this.

"I am nothing like my father-" she began again.

"You are exactly like him," Jasper spat. "Constantly preaching on about how you are better than everyone else.

"Look, there's a reason that Ozpin made Ruby the leader of your team" he went on. "It's because that girl does everything she can to put others before herself. You, Weiss, believe that you should be the leader just because you want it. You've gotten everything you've ever asked for, but now that you're out in the real world, you have done nothing but bitch and moan about how you deserve to be the leader of your team more than Ruby, all because you didn't get what you want."

"That's not true!" Weiss yelled. Jasper just raised an eyebrow at her. "Well, not entirely," she mumbled. Jasper waited a few seconds before continuing.

"Face it, Weiss," he said. "Ruby Rose may be younger than you, and she may act childish sometimes. But from what I've seen today, you're the one that needs to grow up. So, act your age, and accept the fact that you aren't the leader. And if I were you, I would seriously think about giving some respect to the person that is.

"And, if you are that set on becoming the leader," he continued, "then maybe, just maybe, act like one, and start thinking about someone other than yourself for more than five minutes. Think about how Ruby is feeling. Before yesterday, she knew absolutely no one other than her sister. She is just trying to adjust to her new life, and yet you have done nothing but treat her like your father treats the Faunus." Weiss narrowed her eyes at that.

"What could you possibly know about that?" she asked him, suspiciously. The Eagle Faunus just dropped his Semblance in response, revealing his wings to her for the first time. Weiss' eyes widened, as her jaw dropped.

"I know plenty about how your father treats my kind, Weiss," he said slowly. "I'm just lucky enough to be able to hide from it. Now, if you truly want to prove that you are better than him, you can start by apologizing to Ruby." Jasper hid his wings once more, and turned to walk away. Weiss stood there for a few moments, before heading back to the locker room. Jasper just smiled to himself before turning back to her.

"Oh, and Weiss?" he called after her. "If you tell anyone about what I showed you, then that scar of yours will be insignificant compared to what I will leave you with." Weiss stopped in her tracks, digesting what Jasper just said. Jasper just chuckled, and walked off to find the rest of his team.

Neither Cade nor Jasper noticed Professor Ozpin standing in that hallway, listening in to their respective conversations. _Well,_ he thought to himself. _That was certainly more effective than anything I could have said to those girls._ Glancing down at his mug, he noticed that he had runout of hot chocolate. Smiling, he turned and walked back to his office, happy that he didn't need to step in and rectify that crisis.

* * *

 _ **A/N: Well, that brings us to the end of this chapter. Don't forget: Review, Follow and Favourite if it's Worthy. Also, I'm still looking at getting a Beta reader in the future, so if you are interested in helping out a new author, don't hesitate to flick me a PM or something. Cheers Guys!**_

 _ ***Edit 3/01/18: Name changes, etc.**_


	5. CDAR vs Cardin Winchester

_**Beacon Dining Hall**_

Teams RWBY, JNPR, and CDAR were sitting in the dining hall, having just been dismissed from their combat class, where Jaune had fought and lost against Cardin Winchester. As the twelve teens ate their lunch, they were treated to Nora's retelling of her recurring dream.

"So," the hyperactive redhead was saying. "There we were, in the middle of the night…"

"It was day," interjected Ren, who was correcting Nora's story with details that none of the others quite knew the origin of. Nora seemed oblivious to her friend's commentary as she continued spinning her tale.

"We were surrounded by Ursai," she said.

"They were Beowolves," Ren said, sipping his coffee.

"Dozens of them!" Nora exclaimed, rising from her seat. Cade snorted to himself as Ren clarified that there were only two Grimm. "But they were no match," Nora continued, "and in the end, Ren and I took them down, making a boatload of Lien selling Ursa-skin rugs!"

"She's been having this recurring dream for nearly a month now," Ren sighed. Cade turned to look at Jaune, who was just moving his food around his plate, not even attempting to eat.

"Jaune? You okay man?" Cade asked the blonde boy, knowing full well that he was not.

"Huh?" Jaune said, turning his attention to his friends. "Oh, yeah. Why?"

Pyrrha looked at him, concern showing on her face. "It's just that you seem a little…" she trailed off.

"…Not okay," Ruby finished for the older girl. Jaune just looked at his friends nervously, before replying.

"Guys, I'm fine," he told them. "Seriously, look!" He chuckled nervously, giving them the thumbs up. He held it for several seconds, before his attention wandered over to where Cardin and his team were laughing at a Faunus girl, with large brown Rabbit ears.

"Jaune," Pyrrha said to her leader, "Cardin's been picking on you since the first day of school!" Jaune looked back at his teammate.

"Who, Cardin Winchester?" he said, avoiding Pyrrha's gaze. "Nah, he just likes to mess around. You know, practical jokes, and stuff!" Cade could tell from Jaune's tone of voice that the blonde boy was trying to convince himself more than anything. No one else sitting at the table was convinced.

"He's a _bully_ ," Ruby said. Jaune obviously disagreed with that statement.

"Oh, please! Name one time that he's 'bullied' me," he replied, his fingers making air quotes at the word bullied.

"The numerous times he's shoved you around, making you drop your Scroll?" Ruby said.

"The time that he deployed your shield as he walked past you, trapping you in the doorframe?" Cade supplied.

"What about the time that he pushed you into one of the rocket-propelled lockers?" Pyrrha said. Jaune just looked at her sheepishly, trying to laugh the locker incident off.

"I didn't land _that_ far from the school!" he said. Pyrrha just shook her head.

"Jaune, you do know that if you ever need help, you can just ask us, right?" she said. Nora jumped up at this, placing one foot on the table, a slightly insane grin spreading across her face.

"Oooh, I know," she cackled. "We'll break his legs!"

"Guys, really, it's fine!" Jaune said, slowly inching away from where Nora was standing. "Besides, it's not like he's only a jerk to me, he's a jerk to everyone!" he exclaimed. Behind them, Cardin had grabbed hold of the girl's Rabbit ears, laughing as he tugged on them. The twelve teens turned to look at him, shocked.

"Ow, that hurts!" cried the girl. "Please, stop." Cardin just turned to his team, still laughing his head off.

"See boys, I told you that they were real!" he said. "What a freak!"

No one was prepared for what happened next.

Slamming his hand down on the table, Jasper got up, and walked over to where Cardin was traumatizing the Rabbit Faunus.

"Oi, Winchester," Jasper said. Cardin looked up at him, a slightly puzzled look on his face. "Leave her alone," he continued.

"Nah, I think I'm good," came the reply, as Cardin went back to terrorizing his victim. Jasper just stared at him, before speaking.

"Maybe you didn't hear me," he said, slowly. "I said, leave her alone!" Jasper nearly spat the last three words. Standing up, Cardin released the girl's ears, before puffing out his chest and sneering at Jasper.

"You want to take the freak's place?" he asked. Jasper signaled for Pyrrha and Ruby to come and collect Cardin's latest victim, all the while keeping his eye contact with the bully, looking unimpressed.

"If you want to try it," he said, "then go ahead."

Cardin reached forward to grab the front of Jasper's shirt with both hands. Jasper, however, was expecting this. Slipping his arms up, he grabbed hold of Cardin's wrists, and twisted them down and away from him, much to Cardin's shock.

"I'm sick and tired of people like you trying to walk all over the Faunus," Jasper hissed. Cardin just grabbed at his wrists, massaging them slightly where Jasper had gripped him.

"Why do you care so much about a bunch of freaks?" Cardin asked him. Jasper replied by shooting his hand out faster than anyone could see, grabbing Cardin by the neck and hoisting him several inches into the air. As he did this, Jasper stopped using his Semblance and revealed his wings to the bully, as well as the entire dining hall.

"Why do you think I care, Winchester?" Jasper spat. "For too long, I have hidden myself, watching people like you abuse and discriminate my kind! But I will no longer tolerate this." Looking Cardin in the eye, the Eagle Faunus poured every last ounce of contempt into his next words.

"Let me tell you what is going to happen, Cardin," he said menacingly. "I am going to be keeping a _very_ close eye on you. If I find out that you have abused, talked down to, or even _looked_ at someone the wrong way, regardless of whether they be Human or Faunus, I will make it my life's mission to ensure that the next time you leave Beacon… it will be in a body bag." Without so much as a glance behind him, he spoke again.

"And if those spineless lumps you call teammates try anything," he said, "then they will be joining you on your final trip home. Is that understood, Winchester?" Cardin simply stared back at Jasper, a small glimmer of defiance present in his eyes.

"IS THAT UNDERSTOOD?" Jasper roared at him. Cardin managed to grunt out an answer, which sounded like an affirmative. With that, Jasper finally released the other boy, and turned to walk away.

"Stupid little freak," Cardin muttered, just loud enough for Jasper to hear. He wasn't prepared for what happened next. Jasper turned impossibly fast, almost faster than Weiss, or even Ruby, and punched Cardin in the jaw, hard enough to knock out a tooth. The entire dining hall fell silent as they lay witness to the hit. No one moved a muscle. Jasper walked away from Cardin, headed back to his room.

Remus, like everyone else at his table, had witnessed this. Turning to look at Blake, he saw that she was gripping her book almost as tightly as he was gripping this cutlery. The pair's eyes met briefly, each knowing exactly what could happen if Jasper continued down this path. After talking to Cade, Remus excused himself, and trotted after the Eagle Faunus. He eventually caught up with Jasper just outside their door. Grabbing a hold of Jasper's arm, he led his partner away from the door, and up onto the roof.

"What are you doing, Remus?" Jasper asked his partner. Remus just looked at him, taking several seconds to compose himself, before replying.

"Jasper, that was too far," he said. "You need to pull yourself together." Jasper stared back at him.

"No, Remus," the Eagle Faunus replied. "I think that I didn't go far enough."

Turning away for his partner, Remus sighed. "Jasper, listen. This needs to stop, now. I know what it's like to feel this way, but trust me. You need to get it together, and pull yourself off of this path before it's too late."

"Why do you care about those jerks?" Jasper asked. "They have done nothing but bully, and threaten, and intimidate everyone around them, especially us Faunus. Why shouldn't I want to stand up for myself?" Remus looked back at his teammate, a small glint of fear in his eye.

"Because," he replied, "there is a difference between standing up for yourself, and making death threats in order to get people to fear you. That's something that the White Fang do, Jasper. I would hope that you don't want to get involved with them.

"Listen, Jasper," Remus continued. "I don't want to lie to you. I've seen first-hand what this path is like. Up until recently, I was a member of the White Fang. I watched a man that I once saw as a brother go down this same path. I saw what happened to him." Remus gestured to his scar. "I carry this scar as a reminder of what that man became, so that I would never follow in his footsteps. I don't want to see you wind up like he did, so blinded by his rage that he lashed out at anything and everything. You're better than he is. I know it." Jasper just stared at Remus, absorbing his words.

"I had no idea," he finally said. "I'm sorry. You're right, I went too far. I was just so angry, I let it all out, and, well, you saw what happened." Remus smiled at him.

"Don't worry, I'll keep an eye on you. If I see you losing control like that, I'll sort you out," he told Jasper. Remus kept smiling, before walking back towards the door. Jasper followed him down the stairs. As they headed back to their room, Remus spoke again.

"Hey, Jasper?" he asked.

"Yeah?"

"Please don't tell anyone about my past. Not Cade, not Team RWBY, no one." Remus said. "I'm just not ready to tell them yet." Jasper just nodded, before replying.

"Don't worry, Remus," he said. "I understand that it's a sensitive topic. I won't say a word."

* * *

 _ **Combat Class, Beacon Auditorium, the next day**_

Cade was anxious to get on with the combat class. After an eventful History lecture with Prof– sorry, Doctor Oobleck, where several Faunus, including the girl with the rabbit ears from yesterday (who Cade had learned was called Velvet), Jasper (who had revealed his Faunus heritage to the entire school during his altercation with Cardin), and surprisingly, Remus, had revealed to their History professor about being discriminated against due to their heritage. Cardin Winchester had then intentionally called them animals, after Oobleck had asked him a question on the Faunus Rights Revolution, only to be put in his place when Jasper and Blake had both inserted not-so-subtle references and digs into their answers on the topic. Cade had spent the remainder of the lesson working out how he was going to get back at Cardin, after seeing that he was ignoring the warning that Jasper had given him yesterday. Now, as he waited for their instructor, Cade knew that today would be his turn to knock that scumbag Cardin Winchester down a few pegs.

"Alright, students," came the voice of Glynda Goodwitch. "Today, we will again be focusing on Tournament-style matches. Do we have any volunteers?" Cade made sure he was the first person to raise his hand.

"I'll do it, Professor!" he shouted, putting his plan into motion. Professor Goodwitch smiled at him, before inviting him onto the stage.

"Very well, Cade," she said. "Do you have an opponent in mind, or shall I select one for you?" Cade gave the impression that he was thinking long and hard, before coming up with his choice.

"Professor, I would like to face…" he said, smiling, "…Team CRDL!" The combat instructor stared at Cade as if he was mad.

"Mr. Greyclaw," she said, her tone showing that she was not impressed. "I am well aware of what transpired in the dining hall yesterday, and I must inform you that my class is no place for carrying out vendettas! Now, I am willing to let you spar with _one_ member of Team CRDL, but that is it. If you are not willing to accept this compromise, then please, leave the stage at once!" Just as he was about to single out Cardin as his opponent, Cade heard a new voice ring out across the auditorium.

"Now, Glynda," Professor Ozpin said. "I believe that we should allow Mr. Greyclaw to face Team CRDL. After all, you are more than capable of stopping the match if Mr. Greyclaw's Aura drops below the safety limits, are you not? I, for one, am interested to see if Cade here is as good as he believes he is." Cade saw Professor Goodwitch glare at Ozpin, before acquiescing to his request.

"Very well. Mr. Winchester, please bring your Team on stage." Once Team CRDL was assembled, the Combat instructor laid down the rules for the one-off fight. "Gentlemen. The rules are the same as always: Victory occurs when all opponents have either been forced out of the ring, or had their Aura levels depleted to 20% or less. Mr. Greyclaw, I hope you understand the huge disadvantage you are facing, but remember: You asked for this. Ready?" Five heads nodded in confirmation. "Then let the match begin!"

Cade drew BloodFang and held his ground, as Team CRDL moved towards him. He braced himself as Russel Thrush leapt towards him, brandishing his daggers. Spinning the chamber on his Dust Gauntlet, Cade flicked his wrist, selecting an Air Dust vial, before channeling his aura into his sword. Slashing downwards, Cade utilized the Air Dust by creating a large gust of wind, forcing Russel back. Unfortunately, the boy was not aware of his surroundings, and, with a push from Cade, toppled out of the ring, eliminating him from the match.

Cardin snarled at Cade, while the rest of Team CRDL took a moment to absorb what just happened. Cade had just knocked their teammate out of the match within ten seconds. They decided to take things more cautiously, eager to avoid the same fate. Gripping their weapons tightly, they too engaged Cade, this time acting together, believing that facing him two at a time would give them the edge.

Cade parried several thrusts from Dove Bronzewing, before narrowly avoiding a swipe from Sky Lark's halberd. Grimacing, Cade twisted his Gauntlet's chamber once more, this time selecting a vial of Gravity Dust. Channeling his aura once more, Cade punched Dove in the chest, and with the added force of the Dust, sent him flying across the room, out of the ring, with his aura completely depleted. Sky received a backhanded swipe from BloodFang, the flat of the blade catching him in the jaw, forcing him out of the ring also. Smirking, Cade planted BloodFang into the floor, burying the point. Turning to Cardin, he yelled out to the bully.

"Hey, Cardin. How about we make this a fair fight, huh? I'll drop my sword, and take you on with only this!" he said, gesturing to his Gauntlet. Cardin just screamed, and charged towards Cade, rage taking over.

Cade expertly dodged every single one of Cardin's strikes. This only enraged the bully further. The only time Cardin even made contact with Cade was when the leader of Team CDAR managed to use a single hand to catch Cardin's mace before it could go any further. It was at this point that Cade decided to use his Semblance in order to finish the fight. What happened next shocked every single person in the room, with the sole exception of Professor Ozpin and Team CDAR.

Floating in front of Cade, protecting him from Cardin's latest strike, was a white Glyph, adorned with a stylized version of the Greyclaw family crest. Professor Goodwitch even went so far as to give Weiss detention for interfering in the match. Cade shot her down almost instantly, however.

"Actually, Professor," he said, looking over at her. "Weiss isn't responsible for this. This Glyph is mine." The resulting silence spoke volumes, as every single person in the room processed the information. Cade left them to it, as, returning to the fight, he forced Cardin back, before switching his Dust Gauntlet to a vial of Fire Dust, and channeled it into a ring of Glyphs that he had surrounded his opponent with. Cade released the Dust as a series of miniature meteors that rained down upon Cardin for several seconds. Cade dismissed his Glyphs, before waiting for Professor Goodwitch to announce the victor.

As he turned around to leave the stage, he glimpsed Cardin rush towards him, brandishing his mace, intent on attacking Cade whilst everyone was ignoring him. As Cardin brought the mace down, he failed to notice the smirk Cade had plastered on his face. Cade turned, and as fast as Jasper had grabbed Cardin's throat at lunch the day before, landed several high-intensity punches on the bully's chest, before sending him flying backwards with a rather powerful uppercut that connected with Cardin's jaw, knocking loose yet another tooth.

"Hopefully, you'll learn not to attack people when their back is turned from now on, Winchester," Cade said, walking away, leaving the rest of his statement unsaid. _Hopefully, you'll learn not to be such an arrogant bastard with a superiority complex larger than the Kingdom of Vale as well._

* * *

 _ **A/N: So, yet another chapter down. Yikes, this one got a bit darker, didn't it? Well, there's a couple of reason for that. Firstly, (although this one is more to do with why I wrote this chapter in the first place) most of the RWBY stories I've read that loosely follow the actual timeline included a scene like this, where the OC confronts Cardin to defend Velvet. I figured I needed to follow on with the great tradition of beating the crap out of Cardin. Secondly, I believe that I may have poured some of my own personal feelings towards people like Cardin into Jasper's scene. When I was at high school, I was constantly bullied for the first three years I was there. Most of it was due to the fact that I was kinda like Ruby when she started at Beacon: Shy, didn't know anyone, that sort of thing. I wished that I could just become invisible, like Jasper can. So, when I was writing this, I sort of viewed it as an opportunity to hit back at the people who bullied me, in a way that I couldn't in real life. Not to mention, I just generally despise people who act like they are better than everyone around them. So, yeah.**_

 _ **TL,DR: Jasper's scene is my way of expressing my experience with bullies, and Cardin is just a douchebag who got what he deserved. (Personally, I'm considering altering the story slightly so that Jaune never saves Cardin from the Ursa, but I haven't decided yet.) Oh, and for those wondering about Cade's Semblance, everything will (hopefully) be explained in the next chapter. Cheers guys, and don't forget to leave a review, follow, and a favourite if it's worthy. (Hint: I can't read minds, especially through a computer screen. If you did/didn't like it, leave a review. I can't improve the story if I don't know what you guys think!)**_

 _ ** _ ***Edit 3/01/18: Name changes, etc.**_**_


	6. Explanations

_**A/N: I realized just after I posted the previous chapter that I mentioned the fact that Cade's Glyphs have an image of the Greyclaw family crest, but I never actually explained what that crest looked like. So, for those wondering, the Greyclaw crest is what is known as a Unicursal Hexagram. If anyone has seen Supernatural, the image on the Glyph is basically the same as the Men of Letters logo.**_ _ **The actual crest is more curved, with other flourishes.**_ _ **Cheers, and sorry for any confusion I may have caused.**_

* * *

 _ **Combat Class, Beacon Auditorium**_

Having retrieved BloodFang, Cade vacated the stage, and returned to where his team was standing, only to find that Teams RWBY and JNPR were staring intently at him.

"Look, guys," he said, avoiding all of their stares and questions. "I promise, I'll tell you everything. Come over to our room after dinner. You'll get your answers there." With that, Cade turned back to the stage, where Professor Ozpin was preparing to speak.

"So, well done to Mr. Greyclaw, for such a comprehensive victory over Team CRDL," he said. "Now, I realize that this is where Glynda normally gives feedback on the match, but, I feel as though this is my duty, seeing as though I authorized the fight. Now, during the match, I witnessed an important tactic that Mr. Greyclaw used to defeat Mr. Winchester. I also understand that he used a similar tactic in another class of his, several weeks ago. Can anybody, other than Mr. Greyclaw and his team, tell me what that tactic was?" Several hands shot up, but it was Pyrrha who answered the question.

"Well, Professor," she began, "in our Grimm Studies class, when he fought the Boarbatusk, Cade began taunting and insulting his opponent, causing the Boarbatusk to wildly charge at him. This allowed Cade the opportunity to dispatch it with ease. As we all saw, Cade was also taunting Cardin by discarding his sword, insinuating that Cardin would be unable to defeat him whilst he was using it." Ozpin beamed at her answer.

"Indeed, Miss Nikos," he said. "Can you also tell us why Cade was taunting his opponents?"

"Yes, Sir," she replied. "The reason Cade was taunting his opponents was so that he could make them angry. By forcing them into an altered state of mind, Cade was able to, essentially, control the outcome of the battle, resulting in his victory on both occasions." Ozpin nodded at this.

"A perfect answer, Miss Nikos," he said. "You see, students, an angered opponent will be less likely to think his actions through, ignoring possibly disastrous consequences. But, remember: It is not enough to simply anger your opponent. You must also take into account how they are likely to react, and how you can use their reactions to your benefit. Mr. Greyclaw, you have a great understanding of this concept. There are very few people attending this school who understand it as well as you appear to. Fewer still can employ such a tactic in combat. Even more rare are those Huntsmen and Huntresses who are willing to enrage a creature of Grimm in such a manner, without fear.

"I urge all of you students to look to Mr. Greyclaw's example," Ozpin continued, "for he has clearly shown the qualities of a true Huntsman today."

* * *

 _ **Team CDAR's Dorm room, several hours later**_

Cade slammed his pen down onto his desk, having just completed his essay for Dr. Oobleck's class. Stretching in his chair, he heard a knock at his door. Getting up, Cade unlocked the door, and was almost flattened by the rush of people that entered the room. Remus, Jasper, and Derek all looked at the new arrivals, before moving the furniture around to accommodate everyone.

Once Teams RWBY and JNPR had settled in, Cade sighed.

"Right," he said. "What would you like to know first?" Weiss immediately began interrogating him about the Glyphs that he had summoned during the fight with Cardin.

"How on Remnant did you do that, Cade?" she said. "Those Glyphs are unique to the Schnee family. It's one of the few Hereditary Semblances in the world, and last I checked, you are not a Schnee." Cade looked her in the eye. His next words shocked everybody in the room, Weiss especially.

"Well, that's not entirely true," he said slowly. "You see, I wasn't born into the Greyclaw family. I was adopted." Weiss narrowed her eyes at this.

"But that doesn't explain–" she began, before Cade cut her off.

"Weiss, if you want to know the whole story, then actually let me tell it!" he snapped at the heiress. "Now, a couple of years back, I decided that I wanted to find my birth family. Our parents gave me the name of the orphanage where they had found me. It took a while, but eventually, I found out that my mother had been disowned by her family, after marrying someone that they didn't approve of. Her father was a man named Benjamin Schnee, brother of the Schnee Dust Company's founder, Nicholas." Weiss just stared at Cade, struggling to understand what he was saying. "Weiss," he continued, "the two of us, we're related. That's why I can conjure Glyphs, same as you."

"The man that your mother married," Weiss eventually said. "who was he? Why did my family disown her?" Cade looked at Weiss, before smiling at Yang and Ruby.

"Well, that's where things get interesting," he chuckled. "The man she married, my father, was originally a member of a Clan of Bandits, operating throughout Vale, Mistral and Vacuo." Yang leant forward at this.

"What was this clan called?" she asked Cade, slowly beginning to connect the dots.

"As I understand it, the Bandits were known as the Branwen Clan," Cade replied. "My father was one of three children raised in the tribe who later attended Beacon. The other two were his twin cousins."

"Qrow and Raven Branwen," Yang finished. Ruby looked at Cade, not quite understanding the implications of what had been revealed.

"My father, along with Qrow," Cade was saying, "was exiled from the clan, after deciding to defend a small village from a raid that the clan had planned, which, coincidentally, was near where my mother was staying at one of the Schnee Manors. Long story short, they fell in love, got married, the Schnees disowned her, and then I came along." Whilst Cade was talking, Ruby had finally managed to piece together what Cade had said about her Uncle Qrow.

"OHMYGOSHCADEWHYDIDN'TYOUTELLMETHATWEWERERELATED!" she exclaimed. Cade looked to Yang for help, but received only a smirk in response.

"Umm, Ruby?" he said the young leader. "The two of us? We're not actually related. It's Yang I'm related to, through her mother." Ruby didn't seem to care, grabbing Cade in an extremely tight hug.

"Yeah, but you're also related to my Uncle Qrow, which means that we're cousins too!" she said. Cade just decided to give up, and roll with it.

"Yeah, sure Ruby, we're cousins," he sighed. Weiss chose that moment to ask another question.

"Okay, Cade," she said. "I'm willing to accept the fact that you are a Schnee _in blood_ , but I need to know something. Why is it that your Glyphs look different to mine? Even my sister's Glyphs are the same." Cade just looked at her, slightly puzzled.

"You know," he said, after giving it some thought. "I actually have no idea. Mine have always looked like this, ever since I first developed my Semblance." Weiss slumped her shoulders, realizing that that was going to be the last answer she would get.

Team JNPR seemed to just accept what Cade had said, without any questions what so ever, so Cade was relieved that he didn't need to explain it all over again. After bidding the other eight teens good night, Cade turned to his adoptive brother, who smiled at him.

"You knew that you were going to have to tell at least Weiss eventually, brother." Derek said. "Mind you, I didn't know that bit about being related to Yang. I suppose that that means Weiss and Yang are both off-limits to you now, huh?" Cade just stared at Derek, before throwing a pillow at his head.

"Dude, no. Don't even go there," he grimaced, before heading out the door, and up to the roof.

Derek just chuckled at his brother. "More for me then, Cade!" he laughed.

* * *

 _ **On the Rooftop**_

Cade made it up to the roof, just in time to hear Jaune's admission that he had lied to get into Beacon. After watching Pyrrha run down the stairs, Cade went to go and talk to Jaune, only to hear none other than Cardin Winchester confronting Team JNPR's leader.

"I couldn't help but overhear you two from my Dorm room," Cardin was saying. "So, you snuck into Beacon, huh? Gotta say, Jaune, I never expected you to be such a rebel!" Cade saw Jaune's expression morph into that of panic as he realized what Cardin had heard.

"Please, Cardin," he was begging the bully. "Please don't tell anyone!" Cade saw Cardin smirking at the blonde boy.

"Jaune, c'mon," he said. "I'd never rat on a _friend_ like that!" Jaune stuttered in disbelief at Cardin's words.

"A-a friend?" he asked Cardin, as he pulled Jaune into a headlock.

"Of course! We're _friends_ now, Jauney boy, and the way I see it," Cardin was saying, "as long as you're there for me when I need you, we'll be friends for a _looong_ time." Releasing Jaune, Cardin continued to speak.

"That being said, I really don't have time to do those extra readings that Dr. Oobleck gave me today," he said, a sinister-looking grin creeping onto his face. "Think you could, take care of that for me, buddy?" Reaching down to ruffle Jaune's hair, he got up and wandered over to the ledge he had climbed up from.

"Don't worry, Jaune," he said, climbing back down to his room. "Your secret is safe with me."

After ensuring that no-one else was around, Cade walked over to Jaune. The blonde boy noticed this, and groaned.

"Not you too, Cade," he said. "How much did you hear?"

"All of it," Cade replied. "But I actually don't give a damn. Neither should you." Jaune looked up at Cade, puzzled.

"Look at it this way, Jaune," Cade continued. "You really think Ozpin would fall for a fake transcript? He probably knew from day one, and yet he still allowed you to stay. Why? Because he sees something in you, Jaune. Why else would he have made you the leader?" Jaune began to understand.

"Now that we've got that sorted, Cardin's the only thing left to take care of," Cade was saying. "I realize that Jasper's threat was a bluff, but I had hoped that he would back off after his humiliation in the ring today. Obviously, he didn't get the memo." Jaune stood up at this, and turned to Cade.

"I'll figure something out, Cade," he said. "I meant what I said to Pyrrha. I don't want to be the damsel in distress." Cade nodded his understanding.

"I hope you know what you're doing, Jaune," he said. "Just remember: It's okay to ask for help. No-one will think any less of you for doing so. And if the crap hits the fan, well, I think Nora has already volunteered to break Cardin's legs for you." Jaune smiled at that.

"Thanks, Cade. I appreciate it." With that, Jaune headed back down to his room, Cade following close behind. Both of the boys had the same thought: _Cardin Winchester is going to get what's coming to him._

* * *

 _ **A/N: That's one more chapter down. I know that it's a fair bit shorter than the rest of them, but there was never going to be any big fight scenes in this chapter. This was just a way to explain Cade's Semblance, and delve a bit into his past. I wasn't going to add the Rooftop scene with Cardin and Jaune in, but after finishing the main content, I figured it needed something that actually happened in the story, even if it was only a minor scene. So, just remember: Read, Review, Follow and Favourite if you want me to know what you think. I can't read minds, especially if I don't know who or where you are. Cheers guys!**_


	7. Rapscallions and Revelations

**_**_A/N: So, before we begin, I would just like to point out that no, I have not written a chapter based on the Forever Fall field trip. I struggled with many ideas as to how I could incorporate Team CDAR, but none of them ever went anywhere, so I scrapped the whole idea. As a result, there is a significant time-skip between the previous chapter and this one. Anyways, enjoy!_**_**

* * *

 ** _City of Vale_**

Cade, along with his team, as well as Team RWBY, had ventured into Vale, eager to enjoy one of their few days off. Cade had been looking forward to today, especially after the events of the past few weeks. He smiled to himself as he thought back on the very few instances that he had seen Cardin. The former bully had been consciously avoiding not only him, but Jasper, Jaune, and all his former victims. Jaune had saved Cardin from the Ursa Major during their field trip to the Forever Fall forest, after his revenge plot had failed. This resulted in a lot of embarrassment, considering that he had beaten Jaune in their combat class.

Cade pushed all thoughts of Cardin out of his mind. Looking up, he saw one of the many banners that was being raised over the streets. Each one welcomed people to the city ahead of the Vytal Festival. His thoughts were interrupted, as Weiss began speaking, a huge smile plastered on her face. Ruby had also noticed the smile her partner was displaying, and smirked to herself.

"I don't think I've ever seen you smile this much Weiss," she said. "It's kinda weirding me out…" Weiss turned back towards her, still smiling.

"How could you not smile?" she asked Ruby. "A festival dedicated to the cultures of the world! There will be dances! Parades! A tournament! Oh, the amount of planning and organization that goes into this event is simply breathtaking!" Yang, as well as Derek and Jasper, were unimpressed.

"You really know how to take a good thing and make it boring," the blonde said, earning a high five from Jasper.

"Quiet, you!" Weiss huffed.

Cade noticed that the eight teens had wandered over to the docks, briefly wondering why.

"Remind me again why we're spending our Friday afternoon visiting the stupid docks?" Yang asked, voicing Cade's thoughts. Ruby was holding her nose shut, bothered by the smell.

"Ugh, it smells like fish!" she exclaimed. Cade shook his head at his young friend.

"Huh, I wonder why that is, Ruby?" he asked, rhetorically. Ruby stuck her tongue out at him in response. "Careful," he laughed, "or else you'll do more than just smell it!" Ruby used her other hand to clamp her mouth shut in horror. This caused the rest of the group to burst out in uncontrollable laughter.

"Anyway, why are we here?" Derek asked, once everyone had calmed down.

"I've heard that students from Vacuo will be arriving by ship today," Weiss informed him. "And, as a representative of Beacon, it is my solemn duty to welcome them to this fine kingdom!" Jasper saw right through the act, and used the opportunity to have a go at Weiss.

"So, what you're saying is that you wanted to spy on them, so that you could have an advantage going into the tournament?" he asked the heiress. "Honestly, Weiss, your father would be so proud of you!" Weiss' face turned bright red as he said that, confirming his suspicions.

"Y-you can't prove that!" she stammered in response.

Cade and Ruby had found something else that caught their attention. Ruby let out a small gasp as she saw the remains of a Dust shop that had been cordoned off by the police. Walking over to the scene, Ruby asked one of the Detectives about what happened.

"Robbery," he replied. "Second Dust shop to be hit this week. This place is turning into a jungle."

"That's terrible," Yang sighed. Cade had to agree with her. As the Hunters-in-training looked at the ruined store, another detective stepped out.

"Hey, Burns," he said to the Detective they had spoken to. "They left all the money again." Cade noticed Ruby's head jerk up at this.

"Again?" Detective Burns sighed. "This doesn't make a lick of sense, Heyman. Who would need that much Dust?" The other Detective shrugged.

"I dunno, an Army?" he asked. Detective Burns looked at him, one thing on his mind.

"You thinking the White Fang?" he asked. Detective Heyman removed his sunglasses and looked at his partner.

"I'm thinking that we don't get paid enough," he snorted. Cade narrowed his eyes at this, before walking away with his friends.

"Hmph! The White Fang." Weiss was saying. "What an awful bunch of degenerates!" Cade noticed Blake tense up, and Remus clench his fists. He resolved to ask the pair about it later.

"What's your problem?" Blake asked her teammate. Weiss stared at her for a few moments before replying.

"My problem?" she scoffed. "I simply don't care for the criminally insane!" Cade saw Blake's expression become deadly serious, as she crossed her arms.

"The White Fang is hardly a bunch of psychopaths," she said, trying her best to stay in control. "They're a collection of misguided Faunus."

"Misguided?" Weiss exclaimed. "They want to wipe Humanity off the face of the planet!"

"So then they're very misguided!" Blake shouted. Cade chose that moment to step in and try to break the argument up before it got out of hand.

"Either way," he said, "it doesn't explain why they would rob a Dust shop in the middle of downtown Vale." Ruby nodded in agreement.

"Cade's got a point, guys," she said. "Besides, the police never did catch that Torchwick guy that I fought a few months ago. Maybe it was him."

"That still doesn't change the fact that the White Fang are a bunch of scum!" Weiss shouted. "The Faunus only know how to lie, cheat and steal!" At this, Jasper cleared his throat.

"Hey, Ice Queen," he said. "You may want to rethink that last statement, considering your present company!" Weiss looked towards him, before realizing what she had said. Before she could apologize, the eight teens heard a cry from one of the ships that had pulled into port.

"Hey, stop that Faunus!"

Before they could get to the docks, they saw a blonde Faunus boy with a Monkey tail come running towards them. He had avoided the two cops from the Dust store, Detectives Burns and Heyman. As he ran past Blake, he turned his head and winked at her. Remus was seriously tempted to hit the guy for even looking at his Blake– Wait, HIS Blake? Remus thought to himself, shocked at himself. Since when did I start thinking about Blake as mine?

He was pulled out of his thoughts by Weiss, who yelled out something about 'observing him', before joining the chase. The group followed the stowaway for several blocks, until Weiss ran straight into a redheaded girl. The ensuing pileup allowed the Monkey Faunus enough time to get away from them, leaving Weiss more than a little annoyed.

"No, he got away!" she shouted. Everyone else's attention was on the girl that Weiss had landed on, and was oblivious to.

"Uhh, Weiss?" Yang said to her teammate, as she pointed down at the redhead. Weiss at her for a few seconds, before letting out a startled 'yelp' as she jumped backwards, getting off of the girl.

"Salutations!" cried the smiling redhead, still lying on the ground. Ruby peered down at her, puzzled.

"Umm, hello?" she asked. Yang immediately followed up with a query of her own.

"Are you okay?" the blonde brawler asked. Cade, much like Blake and the rest of his team, stared at the girl.

"I'm wonderful!" the girl said, still smiling. "Thank you for asking!"

Okay, there is definitely something wrong with her, Jasper thought to himself.

"Do you wanna get up, or…" Jasper trailed off. The girl screwed up her face, almost like Ruby when she was deep in thought, before replying.

"Yes, I think I do," she said, before rocking back and leaping to her feet in front of the eight bewildered teens. "My name is Penny," she continued, still smiling. "It's a pleasure to meet you!" The two teams looked at each other, trying to figure out what the hell was going on. It was, predictably, Ruby who spoke first.

"Hi Penny, I'm Ruby," she said. The rest of the two teams followed suit.

"Cade, Cade Greyclaw"

"Derek's the name"

"Jasper Arazeiros, at your service"

"Weiss"

"Blake"

"Remus," said the Wolf Faunus, before looking at Yang.

"Are you sure that you didn't hit your head, or something?" she asked Penny. Blake elbowed her in the ribs, reminding Yang to actually introduce herself. "Oh, sorry. I'm Yang." Penny looked at the Hunters-to-be, taking in the new information.

"It's a pleasure to meet you!" she said again. Weiss pointed this out, causing Penny to pause. "So I did!" she finally exclaimed.

Derek decided that they had spent enough time standing around.

"Well, Penny," he said. "It was nice to meet you, but we have somewhere else to be." Weiss caught on to what Derek was doing.

"Yeah, we do," she said. "Sorry for running into you!" With that, RWBY and CDAR turned to leave.

"Take care, friend!" Ruby called to Penny as they walked away.

The group walked for several blocks, before Yang spoke up.

"Well, she was, weird," she said, referring to Penny. Derek turned towards her.

"Oh my god, I know, right!" he said. Weiss ignored the two hotheads, as she began looking around again.

"Now, where did that Faunus riff-raff run off to?" she asked no-one in particular, oblivious to the looks Blake, Jasper and Remus were giving her. Weiss jumped back as she saw Penny standing in front of the group once more, tilting her head in confusion. Weiss and Jasper did a double-take, wondering how Penny could have wound up here in front of them.

"What did you call me?" Penny asked, seemingly looking towards Yang and Derek.

"Oh, I'm really sorry," Yang said. "I didn't think that you heard us!"

"No, not you," Penny said, pushing past the pair, before pointing at Ruby. "You!" This startled the young girl, who began stammering.

"M-me? I-I don't know, I, what I, um, uh…" she trailed off. Penny stared at her, still with a slightly confused expression.

"You called me 'friend'!" she exclaimed. "Am I really your friend?" Ruby glanced over Penny's shoulder at her friends. Yang, Weiss and Blake were all shaking their hands and heads, trying to get their young leader to say no. Cade and Jasper were both holding up large signs with the image of a fist with the thumb pointing down. Ruby had no idea where they had acquired them. Remus was standing off to one side, trying to distance himself from the commotion. Ruby managed to catch a glimpse of orange, and realized that Derek had used his semblance to leave. Looking back at Penny, Ruby gave her answer.

"Ummmm, yeah, sure, why not?" she said , causing her team to collapse where they stood. Each of them had shocked expressions etched into their faces. Cade and Jasper had managed to stay upright, but had both facepalmed at Ruby's answer. Remus still didn't care.

Penny, meanwhile was laughing, her confused expression replaced with one of pure joy.

"Sen-sational!" she cried, throwing her hands into the air, before wrapping Ruby in a tight hug. "We can paint our nails, try on clothes, and even talk about cute boys!" Ruby turned towards Weiss, who was busy brushing herself off.

"Is this what it was like when you met me?" she asked the heiress.

"No, she seems far more coordinated!" Weiss scoffed. Cade spoke up, eager to change the subject.

"So, Penny," he said. "What are you doing in Vale?" Penny turned towards Cade.

"I'm here to fight in the tournament!" she said, smiling. Jasper looked at her .

"Wait, you're gonna fight in the tournament?" he asked. Penny responded with a salute.

"Yep! I'm Combat Ready!" she said, still smiling. Weiss looked at her strangely.

"Forgive me," Weiss said, "but you hardly look the part." Blake opened her mouth to say something, but was beaten to the punch by Jasper.

"Weiss, you're wearing a goddamn dress," he said, smirking. "I hardly think that you're one to talk about looking the part." Cade high fived him at that.

"Hmph! It's a Combat Skirt!" she said. Ruby nodded in response, sliding over to her 'skirt sister'.

"Yeah!" she said, fist bumping Weiss. With that, something clicked in Weiss' head.

"Wait a minute," she said, turning back to Penny. "If you're here for the tournament, does that mean you know that… Monkey-tailed… Rapscallion?" Penny looked at Weiss, confused.

"Who?" she asked, not comprehending. Weiss grabbed a poor drawing of the stowaway from… somewhere, showing it to Penny.

"The filthy Faunus from the boat that just came in!" she said, once again forgetting her present company. Blake had had enough. No-one on Team RWBY knew why Blake was so upset with Weiss' remarks. Remus knew, having known Blake since before Beacon. Jasper, being a Faunus himself, had worked it out eventually. Cade had pieced it together from the girl's reactions to Weiss' derogatory comments.

"Why do you keep saying that?" Blake said. Weiss turned to look at her teammate.

"Huh?" Weiss managed, before Blake continued.

"Stop calling him a 'rapscallion'! Stop calling him a 'degenerate'! He's a person!" she shouted. Weiss put the drawing away, and began gesturing to random objects on the street.

"Oh, I'm sorry," she said. "Would you like me to stop referring to this trashcan as a trashcan? Or this lamppost as a lamppost?" Remus and Jasper were also starting to get angry, but Blake was furious.

"STOP IT!" she screamed.

"Stop what?" Weiss said. "He clearly broke the law. Give him time; he'll wind up with those other Faunus in the White Fang!" Blake stormed away. Weiss wasn't expecting what happened next.

"You ignorant little brat!" Remus spat. Weiss looked shocked, but composed herself.

"How dare you talk to me like that!" Weiss shouted. Jasper looked at her the same way that he had after their first class.

"Don't go there, Ice Queen," he said. Weiss backed off , realizing her mistake. Blake turned back to her teammate.

"You are nothing but a judgmental little girl!" she hissed.

"What in Remnant makes you say that?" Weiss asked.

"The mere fact that you would sort that Faunus boy with a terrorist group, solely because of his species, makes you just as much of a scoundrel as you believe him to be!" Blake yelled. "And don't even get me started on the things you've said about the Faunus around Remus and Jasper!" At this outburst, Yang turned to Ruby and Cade.

"Um, guys? I think we should go…" she trailed off. Cade nodded, pulling out his Scroll.

"Where are we going?" Penny chirped. Yang and Ruby jumped, having forgotten that Penny was still there. Cade called his brother, as he had the day they started at Beacon. Moments later, an orange rift appeared in the air in front of them. Cade, Yang, and Ruby walked through, arriving back in Team CDAR's room.

Derek opened another rift, this one to grab Remus, Jasper, Blake and Weiss. As he stepped through he heard what Weiss and Blake were arguing about his time.

"So, you admit it then?" Weiss said. "The White Fang is just a radical group of terrorists!" Blake scowled at her.

"That's not what I meant, and you know it!" she snapped. Derek sighed.

Derek tapped his teammates on the shoulder, watching as they each grabbed one of the arguing girls. He then opened up another rift to return them to Beacon.

* * *

 _ **Team CDAR's Dorm room, several hours (of continuous arguing) later**_

"I don't understand why this is causing such a problem!" Weiss shouted.

"That IS the problem!" Blake shot back. Weiss stood up, and walked away from the bed she was sitting on.

"You do realize that you are defending an organization that hates Humanity, don't you?" Weiss said. "The Faunus of the White Fang are pure evil!" she said, clarifying her meaning for the two Faunus (she knew of) in the room. Blake still wasn't happy, and got up as well.

"There is no such thing as pure evil!" she yelled. "Why do you think they hate Humanity so much? It's because of people like Cardin, people like you, that the White Fang are forced to take such drastic measures!" Weiss, as well as Yang, Ruby, Cade, and Derek, looked shocked that Blake would compare their friend to a bully like Cardin Winchester.

"People like me?" she asked .

"You're discriminatory!" Blake spat.

"I'm a victim!" Weiss yelled, surprising everyone. Taking a deep breath, Weiss forced herself to calm down, before continuing. "You want to know why I despise the White Fang? Why I don't particularly trust most Faunus? It's because they've been at war with my family for years. War, as in actual bloodshed. My grandfather's company has had a target on its back for as long as I can remember. Ever since I was a child, I watched family friends disappear, board members executed! An entire train car full of Dust, stolen!" Blake and Remus narrowed their eyes at this, glancing at each other.

"And every day, my father would come home furious," Weiss continued. "That made for a very difficult childhood!" Ruby walked over to try and comfort Weiss, but was pushed away.

"You want to know why I hate the White Fang so much, Blake?" she asked. "It's because they're a bunch of liars, thieves, and murderers!"

"WELL, MAYBE WE WERE JUST TIRED OF BEING PUSHED AROUND!" Blake and Remus shouted. The entire room looked at them, shocked. Jasper was less shocked than the others. He already knew about Remus' past, but he was not expecting Blake to have been involved as well.

Blake looked around the room, realizing what she and Remus had revealed. Turning, she bolted out of the room, faster than even Ruby could follow. Remus surveyed everyone's reactions, before apologizing.

"I'm sorry," he said. "I knew that it was bound to come out eventually, but I didn't want it to happen like this." With that, he turned and left the room, following Blake.

He found her staring at the massive statue that stood in the center of the school's courtyard. He watched as she reached up and removed the bow that hid her Faunus heritage.

"I've told you that you look better without that bow, Blake," he said, revealing his presence. Blake turned to find the source of the voice. As her eyes settled on Remus, she ran towards him, tears forming in her eyes. He made no comment as she wrapped her arms around him, burying her head in his chest. He stood there, holding her as she let the tears flow.

* * *

 ** _A/N: Okay, so we're so close to wrapping up Volume 1. This chapter was actually fairly easy to write, given that there weren't any fight scenes (which I suck at writing). Side note: Did anyone get the meaning behind the names of the two detectives at the crime scene? Good on you if you did!  
_**

 ** _I am gonna start trying to keep to a regular upload schedule, and get at least one new chapter posted by midnight on Sundays (New Zealand Time).  
_**

 ** _Cheers guys, and remember: Review, Follow and Favourite (if it's worthy). I'm pretty sure I've mentioned it, but I can't read minds. Please write a review, I would like to know what you guys think about my work. It's very hard to improve on things if you don't know it needs improving._**


	8. Searching for Answers, Part 1

**_A/N: Apologies for the late update guys. I know that I said I would try to keep a regular Update Schedule, but I just struggled to write this chapter. I am probably going to scrap the schedule, as I am not sure if I will have enough time to write an entire chapter in a week, especially considering my new job is on an 'on-call' basis. Anyway, after a month's (unplanned) hiatus, here is the new chapter. Enjoy!_**

* * *

 **FYI:** _ **{words}**_ **= Text messages**

 _ **Team CDAR's Dorm room**_

Cade sat up in his bed, stretching. He didn't get much sleep overnight. His mind was busy trying to accept the revelation that Blake and Remus were both White Fang members. He didn't hold it against the pair, as he knew that a person is not defined by their past. Hell, Cade could still remember a time when Derek had bullied him. Cade glanced over to the other side of the room, only to find that Remus had not returned.

Reaching for his Scroll, Cade sent a message to Ruby.

 _{Hey, Ruby, any sign of Blake? Remus didn't come back last night.}_

Getting out of bed, Cade got dressed, before heading out to scour the grounds in his search for his friends. Hearing his Scroll beeping, he opened it to find a message from Ruby.

 _{No, she hasn't come back yet either. Weiss, Yang and I are gonna go into the city to try and find her. You wanna come with?}_

Cade was about to reply when his Scroll beeped another alert, this time from Remus.

 _{Cade. I don't know who else to go to. Café Blanco, 12 pm. Come alone, and tell no-one. Remus.}_

Cade quickly sent Ruby a message declining her offer, saying that Jasper and Derek would help. Putting his Scroll away, he turned and headed towards the transports taking students into the city.

Jasper and Derek, meanwhile, had met up with the three remaining members of Team RWBY. The five friends had entered the city with Derek's Semblance and had begun looking for their missing teammates.

After two hours of finding nothing, Ruby, Weiss, Yang, Derek, and Jasper met up by the docks once more and started walking down an empty street.

"They've been gone all weekend," Ruby said, her heart sinking.

"Blake's a big girl, I'm sure she can handle herself," Weiss scoffed. "And as for the wolf boy, well, he's not on my team, so he's not my problem!" Yang and Derek were unappreciative of the heiress' attitude.

"Weiss, come on," Yang said. "She's one of our teammates!"

"And Remus is one of your friends," Derek said. "Or did you just happen to forget that it was he who helped you guys take down that Nevermore during Initiation?"

"Are they? We all heard what they said!" Weiss said, crossing her arms.

Jasper and Ruby stared at her, not liking where this was headed.

"Don't go there, Weiss," Jasper said. "Blake and Remus both had their reasons for keeping this a secret. Moreover, I know for a _fact_ that Remus is no longer a member of the White Fang!"

"Wait, you _knew_?" Weiss screamed. "All this time, and you didn't think to tell us that Blake and Remus were _terrorists_!"

"For the record, _Ice Queen_ ," Jasper replied, "I only knew about Remus. More importantly, I gave him my word that I wouldn't tell you guys. It was his secret to tell, not mine." Ruby shrank down, saddened by the sound of her friends fighting amongst themselves.

"I just hope that they're okay," she mumbled to herself.

* * *

 _ **Café Blanco, Downtown Vale**_

Cade had arrived at the café twenty minutes ago, only to find that Blake and Remus were nowhere to be seen. Having waited long enough, he pulled out his Scroll and sent Remus a message asking where they were. He was surprised when he got a message back immediately.

 _{Cade, we're running slightly late. Blake didn't want to come, she's afraid of your reaction. Be there in about 5 minutes. Remus.}_

Putting his Scroll away, Cade looked up just in time to see Blake and Remus walk over to his table. Getting up, he saw Blake visibly recoil, seeming to shrink and hide behind Remus.

"Blake," he began, trying to comfort the Cat Faunus. "It's okay. I'm not going to look at you any different because of your past. You had your reasons, both for joining and for leaving." Cade invited his friends to sit down with him. Looking at the pair, he sighed, seeing that neither of them wanted to initiate conversation.

"You guys sure had us all worried last night," he said. "Running off like that. Everyone's out looking for you right now." Remus' wolf ears pricked up at that.

"You didn't tell them?" he asked quickly, wanting to make sure that Blake didn't have to face their friends until she was ready. Cade shook his head, signaling that he had followed Remus' message. Remus let out a sigh of relief.

"My question is, why did you think that you needed to run in the first place?" Cade continued.

"I- I don't–" Blake stammered. _Why did I run?_ Blake wasn't entirely sure. Sighing, she mustered up the courage to look Cade in the eye.

"I guess, it was because I was afraid," she said. "Afraid of how everyone would react. I know how people view the White Fang nowadays, and I thought that you guys would look at me and Remus the same way." Cade sat there, absorbing Blake's words.

"Why did you join the White Fang, Blake?" he finally asked. "Forgive me, but you don't seem like the stereotypical, Human-hating White Fang that everybody has come to see." Blake narrowed her eyes at this. "I'm not going to judge you, Blake. I just want to better understand why you think that everyone would turn on you."

"Well, I didn't exactly _join_ the White Fang," Blake sighed. "I was born into it. My father was the leader of the White Fang, back when things were different. The White Fang was supposed to be a peaceful organization, promoting Unity and Equality between Humans and the Faunus. But, despite the promises that were made, Humans still treated us as lesser beings. We were still subjected to discrimination and hate. As a result, the White Fang became the voice of the Faunus."

"My parents and I were at the front of every single rally, we took part in every single boycott," Blake continued. "At the time, I thought that we were actually making a difference. I realize now that it was just my 'youthful optimism'."

"Five years ago, my Father stepped down as the High Leader of the White Fang. His successor decided that the White Fang needed to move in a new direction. Soon after, our peaceful protests were being replaced with organized attacks. We set fire to stores that refused to serve us, we hijacked cargo from companies that used Faunus labor." Blake glanced over at Remus. "The worst thing is, it worked. Humans started to treat the Faunus as equals… but out of fear, not respect."

"You remember what Weiss said about the train heist? Well, Remus and I were involved. It was our last mission for the White Fang. It was on that train that I decided that I could no longer use my skills to aid in their violence. The White Fang was willing to destroy the train, killing everyone aboard, simply because they were in the wrong place at the wrong time."

"I made a choice to leave, and ever since then, I have tried to dedicate my life to becoming a Huntress," Blake finished. "So, here I am. A criminal hiding in plain sight, with the help of a little black bow." Blake wiggled her cat ears to illustrate. Remus began to speak, wanting to explain how he left.

"I didn't have the courage to leave when Blake did," he said. "It took me a couple of days to do it. I confronted our boss, a guy by the name of Adam Taurus. When I saw that he was excited by the prospect of killing humans, I left, but not before earning a reminder of my past." Remus pointed to his scar, although Cade already understood.

Cade looked at his two friends.

"So, you guys originally joined the White Fang when it was a peaceful organization?" he asked. Both Faunus nodded. "Well, then, I don't see why you should be worried about anyone's reactions. I'll wager that everyone is more worried about you guys than anything else. Weiss may be a bit rough around the edges, but I'm sure that she'll understand." Cade suddenly grinned.

"Speaking of wagers," he said, looking at Remus. "You still owe me 20 Lien from Professor Port's first class, Remus!"

* * *

 _ **Elsewhere in Downtown Vale**_

"BLAAAAAAKE!"

"REMUS!"

Ruby, Weiss, Yang, Derek, and Jasper were still searching Vale for their respective teammates. They had been searching for hours, with no luck.

"Blake, where are you!" shouted Ruby. Yang echoed her sister's cries.

"Remus! Come on out!" Derek and Jasper were shouting. Weiss just dawdled along behind them, keeping her mouth shut. Ruby noticed this and began complaining.

" _Weiss_ , you're not helping!" she whined. Weiss looked at her young leader, scoffing.

"Oh, you know who might be able to help?" she asked, sarcastically. "The Police!"

Jasper looked at her, shaking his head in irritation. "Not cool, Ice Queen, not cool." Weiss looked at him, sharing his irritation.

"It was just an idea!" she said. Derek walked away, trying his hardest not to get involved.

"Yeah, a bad one," he muttered under his breath. Yang looked back at the heiress, for once not trying to solve something with her fists.

"Weiss, I think that we should hear their side of the story before we jump to any conclusions," she said. Weiss scoffed once more.

"I think that when we hear it, you'll realize that I was right the entire time!"

"And I think that Weiss' hair looks _wonderful_ today!" Penny said excitedly. It took the five Huntresses- and Huntsmen-in-training a few seconds to register who had spoken, before all of them turned and jumped back at the sight of the strange, yet cheerful, redheaded girl who had appeared out of nowhere.

"Aaaah, Penny!" Ruby exclaimed. "Where did you come from?" Penny ignored the question, still smiling.

"Hey guys, what are you up to?" she asked the group.

Jasper spoke up. "We're looking for our friends, Blake and Remus." Penny nodded.

"Ohhh, the Faunus Boy and Girl!" she said.

"Yeah- wait, how did you know Blake is a Faunus?" Ruby said, curiously. The other four friends stared at Penny.

"Uhhh, the Cat Ears?" she replied, pointing to her own head. Ruby, Weiss, Yang, and Derek looked at each other, not understanding. Jasper said nothing, having already seen Blake's ears. Yang was the first to speak.

"What cat ears?" she said. "She wears a… bow…" Yang trailed off as she realized why Blake wore the bow. Jasper nodded, whilst Ruby mentioned something about Blake and… tuna? Turning away, he watched as a tumbleweed rolled down the street in front of them. Penny broke the silence that had enveloped the six teens.

"Sooo, where are they?" she asked. Derek spoke up at that.

"We don't know where they are," he said. "The two of them have been missing since last night." Penny looked at the group, finally noticing something wrong.

"Where's Cade? Maybe he knows where they are!" she said.

"Yeah, why isn't Cade here?" Yang said. "He knows that Remus and Blake are missing, but he doesn't want to help find them? That seems suspicious." Jasper glanced at Derek, who shrugged.

"Well, last I saw, he was searching the Academy grounds. I don't know where else he could be," he said, not entirely believing his own words.

Penny turned back to look at Ruby.

"Well, don't you worry, friends!" she announced. "I won't rest until we find your teammates!" Ruby looked at Penny, trying to smile.

"Uh, that's really nice of you, Penny, but we're okay! Really!" Ruby said, nervously. "Right, guys?" As she looked over Penny's shoulder to her friends, Ruby saw the telltale orange glow of Derek's semblance. With a brief flash of white, they all evacuated the area, not wanting to get involved with Penny. Yet another tumbleweed rolled past the two remaining girls, this time earning a comment about the weather from Penny.

* * *

 _ **Outside Café Blanco**_

"So, what are you guys gonna do now?" Cade asked Blake and Remus, as the trio walked away from the cafe. Blake gave a small sigh.

"I want to follow up on what that Detective said yesterday, about the White Fang being behind the Dust robberies," Blake said. "In all my time with the White Fang, they've never needed that much dust before," Remus spoke up as Blake finished.

"Even when we pulled off the train heists, we never took the Dust for our own use. We usually wound up dumping it. It scares me to think what they would need that much Dust for." Cade nodded.

"Well, there's only one way I can think of to prove that it's not the White Fang behind the robberies. We to go to where they would most likely be if they were responsible, and not find them," he said. "Only problem is, I haven't the faintest clue as to where that would be."

"I might," Remus said. "While we were down at the docks yesterday, I overheard some of the workers talking about a large Dust shipment that was coming in from Atlas. Big Schnee Company freighter. If the White Fang were gonna hit something, it would be that." Blake nodded.

"It makes sense," she said. "It's a Schnee target, meaning they would already be interested. The Dust would be the proverbial icing on the cake if they were going to steal it." Cade stopped, formulating a plan.

"Alright. Meet me down at the docks at nightfall," he said. "If the White Fang is responsible for this, we'll catch them."

* * *

 _ **Elsewhere… Again**_

Jasper and Weiss stepped out of the last shop on the street.

"Thanks anyway!" Jasper called to the shopkeeper. "This is hopeless!" Jasper turned to Weiss, who was looking around nonchalantly. "You really don't care if we find them, do you Ice Queen?" Weiss snapped her head around to look at the Eagle Faunus.

"Don't be stupid, Birdbrain!" she snapped. "Of course I do! I'm just scared of what they'll say when we find them. The innocent never run, Jasper." Jasper snorted at this.

"Of course they do, Weiss," he said. "They run from persecution, they run from things they fear. Hell, you ran to Beacon to get away from your father, didn't you?" Weiss blushed at that, trying her hardest to ignore him.

"All I'm saying," he continued, "is that you should reserve your judgment until you hear their side of the story. You can't presume to know everything without first hearing the facts." Weiss sighed at this.

"Maybe you're right, Jasper," she said. "Maybe I was too harsh on them. I automatically assumed that they were just as bad as the rest of the White Fang. As a result, I didn't even consider their story."

* * *

 _ **Vale Docks, Sunset**_

Having retrieved their Weapons from their Rocket Lockers, Cade, Blake, and Remus had entered the Docks, eager to find out the truth behind the Dust robberies. Cade had given out wireless earpieces so that they could communicate without occupying their hands. Blake and Remus had scaled one of the warehouses on the southern side of the docks. They had an unobstructed view overlooking the area where the SDC containers were stacked. She heard Remus drop down behind her, having returned from retrieving some food.

"Did I miss anything?" he asked. Blake heard the slight crackle of her earpiece, signaling Cade was about to speak.

"Nah, nothing yet. Keep your eyes peeled, though," Cade replied.

Cade had managed to conceal himself on a rooftop on the opposite side of the docks and was surveying the area with BloodFang's rifle scope. Just as he finished speaking, he saw the searchlight of a Bullhead sweep over the docks in front of him, searching for a place to land.

"Heads up, you two," he relayed. "We've got company." Peering down his scope, he saw the Bullhead's ramp extend, as a man wearing a black hood and a white mask stepped out.

"Oh no…" Blake said upon seeing the figure step out. The white mask told her all she needed to know.

"Is it them?" she heard Cade ask over her earpiece. As he spoke, the White Fang member by the Bullhead turned, offering Blake and Remus a perfect view of the emblem he wore on his back. A bloodied Wolf's head, superimposed over three diagonal slashes.

"Yeah," Blake sighed. "It's them."

The two Faunus heard the thief call out to the others that were slowly exiting the Bullhead. They watched as the Dust containers were hooked up to the Bullhead's winch before Cade spoke up again.

"You really didn't think that the White Fang was behind this, did you?" he asked Blake.

"I think, deep down, I knew," she replied. "I just didn't want to be right."

Cade looked down at the scene unfolding at the docks when he saw someone else step out of the Bullhead, someone who obviously wasn't White Fang. Roman Torchwick. Cade relayed the information to his friends, which shocked them.

"This isn't right," Remus said, looking over at Blake. She nodded in agreement.

"Yeah. There is no way that the White Fang would work with a Human. Especially one like Torchwick." Remus watched as Blake stood up and drew Gambol Shroud.

"What are you doing?" he hissed at her. Blake reached up to untie her bow before jumping down and running over to the Bullhead.

Sneaking up behind Torchwick, Blake swung Gambol Shroud up and held it against the man's neck.

"Blake, what the hell are you doing?" Cade said, watching her through his scope.

The White Fang grunts crowded around her, as she held Torchwick hostage.

"Brothers of the White Fang! Why are you aiding this scum?" Blake yelled. She watched them falter, lowering their weapons as they looked at her.

"Oh, kid, didn't you get the memo?" Torchwick sniggered. "The White Fang and I are going in on a joint business venture!"

Cade kept his eyes locked on the scene unfolding below him. Reaching down with his free hand, he retrieved a magazine of non-lethal ammunition. The Lightning Dust bullets were designed to drain the Aura of the target, incapacitating them without causing unnecessary harm. As he loaded the magazine into his rifle, he heard Blake and Torchwick continue to speak.

"Tell me what it is," she was saying, "or I'll put an end to your little operation!" Torchwick scoffed at her, clearly unconcerned with the blade at his neck.

"I wouldn't exactly call it _little_ ," he said, looking up.

Cade and Remus both watched as two more Bullheads descended over the area, training their searchlights on Blake. As a result, they didn't see Torchwick fire his cane, only Blake being flung away by the ensuing explosion.

* * *

 _ **A/N: Well, There you go. Cliffhangers are the worst, aren't they? Anyway, hope you enjoyed this chapter! Remember: It would be appreciated if you guys could leave a review, follow, or even a favourite on this story. Reviews are the only real way I have of seeing what you guys like/don't like about my work. If you don't tell me about your thoughts, I can't improve on what I have. Cheers guys!**_


	9. Apologies

Hey all!

So, I realise that it has been a while since my last update, and I just wanted to let you know where I'm at.

I have gradually been losing interest in this story since my last update in February, and I think it's time that I face the fact that I'm probably not going to continue to write it. I enjoyed writing it when I first started in December, but lately it just feels like a chore to even think about writing this.

So, yeah. Unfortunately, I am officially discontinuing this story. Rest assured, this will not be the last you see of at least one of the OC's I created for this story, as I have other plans for them.

Cheers,

Danashpark


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